International Journal of Environment Volume : 07 | Issue : 01 | Jan.-Mar. | 2018 ISSN 2077-4505 Page:1-15 Impact of industrial pollutants on some water quality parameters of Edku, Mariout lakes and the Nile River 1Alnagaawy A. M., M. H. Sherif2, Mohammed G. Assy2 and A. S. Shehata1 1Limnology Department, Central Laboratory for Aquaculture Research, Abassa, Abu Hammad, Sharkia, Egypt. 2Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt Received: 20 August 2017 / Accepted: 25 Sept. 2017 / Publication date: 20 Jan. 2018 ABSTRACT The growing increase in population, as well as urbanization expansion; lead to a corresponding increase in industrial, agriculture, urban effluents that discharged into the aquatic environment. This study was conducted to evaluate the alteration occurred in some water quality characteristics of different water bodies subjected to different types of pollutants, especially the industrial one. During the period from January to December/ 2015 water samples were collected seasonally from two northern deltaic lakes (Edku and Mariout) as well as from three different regions of the Nile River. Physico-chemical parameters (water temperatures, hydrogen ion concentration (pH), dissolved oxygen(DO), water transparency (Secchi disc reading), water electric conductivity(EC), total + dissolved solids (TDS), total alkalinity(TA),total hardness (TH), total ammonia (NH4 +NH3), nitrite - - (NO2 ), nitrate(NO3 ), total nitrogen (TN), orthophosphate (OP), total phosphorous (TP),Chlorophyll "a", biological oxygen demand(BOD) and chemical oxygen demand(COD) were estimated. Obtained results revealed that Mariout Lake considered the most polluted region among the investigated regions. If the pollution rate still going increase, it will create large areas of oxygen-depleted (hypoxic) dead zones, which affect fish and other organisms in the Lake. Key words: Pollution, water quality, aquatic environment, urbanization, industrial, agriculture, Mariout lake, Edku lake and the Nile River Introduction Water is one of the most important natural resource available to mankind. The need for conservation of water bodies especially the fresh water bodies is being realized everywhere in the world (Gupta et al., 2011).Industrial and agricultural wastewater causes pollution of surface water (rivers and lakes) with chemicals and excess nutrients (USEPA, 2000).Water requirements in Egypt are continuously increasing due to population increase and improving standards of living as well as the governmental policy to encourage industrialization. By the year 2020, water requirements will most likely increase by 20%. Water quantity and quality are inseparable. Water quality is a description of physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water (El Gohary, 2015). Since all water uses require that water quality falls within a range suitable for that use. Thus the present rate of deterioration of quality will certainly increase the severity of the water scarcity problem (Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Egypt, 2014). Egypt is an arid country that faces challenges due to its limited water resources and disorders of water balance (Nasr and Zahran, 2015). AbouEl-Gheit et al. (2012) revealed that factors that affect directly on the aquatic environment and cause Poor water quality are trace metals and high load of nutrients. Unfortunately large amounts of untreated urban municipal, industrial wastewater, effluents, drainage water and domestic wastewater being discharged into the Nile River and lakes in Egypt with and without treatment. When wastewater is dumped into natural water bodies without an appropriate treatment, an increase of organic matter and oxygen depletion will resulted in (Gupta et al., 2014). Lake Edku which is considered as important fishing area in Egypt receives its water from two sources. The main source is the drainage water of Kom Belag and Barseek drains where it is annually supplied Corresponding Author: A. S. Shehata, Limnology Department, Central Laboratory for Aquaculture Research, Abassa, Abu Hammad, Sharkia, Egypt. E-mail: [email protected] 1 Int. J. Environ., 7 (1): 1-15, 2018 ISSN: 2077-4508 with 1836.55 million cubic meter of water. The sea water of Abu Qir Bay enters the lake sometimes through the lake sea connection as subsurface water current under the action of wind especially in winter. El-Bousely, Edku and Damanhour sub-drains, transporting domestic, agricultural and industrial wastes as well as the drainage water of more than 300 fish farms. Barseek Drain transports mainly agricultural drainage water to the lake (Okbah and El-Gohary, 2002). Lake Mariout is now considered a major source of pollution to the Mediterranean Sea through El Mex Bay. It is one of the major sources of conveyance of land based pollution to the El-Mex Bay. The Lake has no direct connection to the sea and its surface is maintained at 2.8 m below mean sea level by pumping water from the lake to the Mediterranean Sea at El-Mex Bay. The Lake receives polluted water which brought by the industries include high Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and heavy metals (AICZMP, 2009). According to the National Water Research Center (NWRC, 2002), the Nile River from Aswan to Delta, receives wastewater discharges from 67 agricultural drains of which 43 are considered major drains. According to EEAA (2002), all factories along the reach between Aswan and the Delta have already either constructed pre-treatment plants which discharge into the sewerage system or complete treatment plants which discharge into the Nile River system. This study aims to evaluate the characteristics of water in Edku and Mariout Lakes as well as in the Nile River to appraise to what extent water quality variables had been affected with different pollutant discharges in these regions. Materials and methods Study regions: Lake Edku: Situated at 30 km NE of Alexandria. It is one of four coastal deltaic lakes that are connected to the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of 126 km2 and water depth ranging from 50-150 cm. The Lake receives huge amounts of drainage water from two main drains; El-Khairy and Barseek drains. The water sources of El-Khairy Drain are from three drains denominated: El-Bousely, Edku and Damanhour sub-drains, transporting domestic, agricultural and industrial wastes as well as the drainage water of more than 300 fish farms. Barseek Drain transports mainly agricultural drainage water to the lake (Okbah and El-Gohary, 2002; Badr and Hussein 2010). Lake Mariout: Located SW of Alexandria, and considered one of the most heavily populated urban areas in Egypt and in the world (Mateo, 2009). At least 17 factories discharge directly to the lake through pipelines and 22 factories discharge into nearby drains and then to the lake (Abdel Wahaab and Badawy 2004). The lake now divided artificially into five basins and its area about 27.3 km2 and its depth ranges from 90 to 150 cm. Nile River: River Nile is the main source of drinking water in Egypt. Unfortunately, it receives heavy load of industrial, agricultural and domestic wastes from several sources. River Nile is regarding as the life artery of Egypt through the known Egyptian history. The River Nile constitutes over 98 % of the freshwater resources available to Egypt which represent 55.5 million cubic meters per year coming from the south according to the international agreement for the distribution of water resources of the River Nile between countries of Nile basin (El-Dib, 2004). Helwan region: Is one of the biggest industrial areas in Egypt and is located in the extreme south of Cairo government at 50º 29º North and at 20º 30º East of Nile River. Helwan industrial area is restricted to 4 2 Int. J. Environ., 7 (1): 1-15, 2018 ISSN: 2077-4508 kilometer southern Cairo where industries concentrate in southern Helwan more than in the north. Helwan region produces about 300 tons wastes/day. The most important industry in Helwan/El Tibeen area is iron steel which discharge partial treated effluent containing zinc, other trace metals and food - processing industry in the area discharges effluent with high concentration of organic biodegradable materials including plant oil (El Danaf, 2000). Helwan/El Tibeen area receives heavy polluted industrial drainage water, containing waste of the iron and steel industry and the cement industry. These types of industry tend to pollute the receiving water with suspended matter, heavy metals and all kinds of organic micro-pollutants (El Gohary, 2015). Abu-Zaabal region in Ismailia canal: Industrial and agricultural activities in this region produce large amounts of untreated urban, municipal, industrial wastewater as well as rural domestic wastes which discharge into the Nile River. The Abu Zaabal industrial zones include some activities as petroleum, petro gas, iron and steel, Abu Zaabal Fertilizers Company, Alum (Aluminum Sulfate) Company, detergent industries and electric power station (Goher et al., 2014). Sampling sites: Twenty three sampling sites were chosen to represent the three investigated regions as shown in Table 1 and figures 1 - 3. Table 1: Different sampling sites which representing the investigated regions. Region Sampling sites description longitudes Latitudes Train station no 5 30º30º-30º23ºE 31º10º-31º18ºN Knayes 30º30º-30º23ºE 31º10º-31º18ºN Khairy drain 30º30º-30º23ºE 31º10º-31º18ºN Nakhnokh 30º30º-30º23ºE 31º10º-31º18ºN Edku Lake Edku pump 30º30º-30º23ºE 31º10º-31º18ºN Barsiq drain 30º30º-30º23ºE