POTENTIAL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH MISMANAGEMENT OF HOSPITAL WASTEWATER IN TANZANIA

Hospital wastewater is harmful to the environment and public health if inadequately managed. Mismanagement of hospital wastewater pollutes soil, aquatic environments and spread infectious diseases that put public into health risks. Regardless on the toxicity of hospital wastewater, there are limited...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Shadrack Mwita Sabai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Zibeline International 2023-09-01
Series:Journal CleanWAS
Subjects:
Online Access:https://jcleanwas.com/archives/2jcleanwas2023/2jcleanwas2023-69-75.pdf
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832583717154979840
author Shadrack Mwita Sabai
author_facet Shadrack Mwita Sabai
author_sort Shadrack Mwita Sabai
collection DOAJ
description Hospital wastewater is harmful to the environment and public health if inadequately managed. Mismanagement of hospital wastewater pollutes soil, aquatic environments and spread infectious diseases that put public into health risks. Regardless on the toxicity of hospital wastewater, there are limited information on the impact of hospital wastewater mismanagement to the environment and surrounding community in the developing countries. This study aims to investigate the potential impacts of hospital wastewater mismanagement to the environment and surrounding community in Tanzania. Sixteen wastewater samples were collected from two national and regional referral hospitals in Tanzania using random stratified sampling technique. Chemical and biological parameters where analyzed in the laboratory following the standard methods from APHA-AWWA-WEF (1998). Thirty hospital cleaners, ten sewer attendants, thirty neighbouring community and ten hospital officials were interviewed to determine their level of awareness and measures taken to protect themselves against contaminating. The results show that effluents discharged into water bodies has high concentrations of organic matters and pathogenic bacteria (0.5 – 23 x 106 cfu/100 ml.). These results reveal that hospitals discharge is highly polluted and hence puts aquatic organisms and downstream water users into risks. Furthermore, 94% of interviewed were knowledgeable and the surrounding community was aware on the effects emanated from mismanagement of hospital wastewaters. This understanding is important for them to protect themselves however cannot safeguard aquatic ecosystems and downstream water users. Therefore, treatment of hospital wastewater with appropriate state-of-the-arts is required before discharging into the receiving water streams which is in line SDG 6.
format Article
id doaj-art-5efe61938f074fcfb5acd84f74e3a43a
institution Kabale University
issn 2521-0912
2521-0513
language English
publishDate 2023-09-01
publisher Zibeline International
record_format Article
series Journal CleanWAS
spelling doaj-art-5efe61938f074fcfb5acd84f74e3a43a2025-01-28T07:32:31ZengZibeline InternationalJournal CleanWAS2521-09122521-05132023-09-0172697510.26480/jcleanwas.02.2023.69.75POTENTIAL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH MISMANAGEMENT OF HOSPITAL WASTEWATER IN TANZANIAShadrack Mwita Sabai0Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ardhi University, Dar es Salaam, TanzaniaHospital wastewater is harmful to the environment and public health if inadequately managed. Mismanagement of hospital wastewater pollutes soil, aquatic environments and spread infectious diseases that put public into health risks. Regardless on the toxicity of hospital wastewater, there are limited information on the impact of hospital wastewater mismanagement to the environment and surrounding community in the developing countries. This study aims to investigate the potential impacts of hospital wastewater mismanagement to the environment and surrounding community in Tanzania. Sixteen wastewater samples were collected from two national and regional referral hospitals in Tanzania using random stratified sampling technique. Chemical and biological parameters where analyzed in the laboratory following the standard methods from APHA-AWWA-WEF (1998). Thirty hospital cleaners, ten sewer attendants, thirty neighbouring community and ten hospital officials were interviewed to determine their level of awareness and measures taken to protect themselves against contaminating. The results show that effluents discharged into water bodies has high concentrations of organic matters and pathogenic bacteria (0.5 – 23 x 106 cfu/100 ml.). These results reveal that hospitals discharge is highly polluted and hence puts aquatic organisms and downstream water users into risks. Furthermore, 94% of interviewed were knowledgeable and the surrounding community was aware on the effects emanated from mismanagement of hospital wastewaters. This understanding is important for them to protect themselves however cannot safeguard aquatic ecosystems and downstream water users. Therefore, treatment of hospital wastewater with appropriate state-of-the-arts is required before discharging into the receiving water streams which is in line SDG 6.https://jcleanwas.com/archives/2jcleanwas2023/2jcleanwas2023-69-75.pdfhospital wastewatermismanagementpollution. public healthriskswastewater management
spellingShingle Shadrack Mwita Sabai
POTENTIAL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH MISMANAGEMENT OF HOSPITAL WASTEWATER IN TANZANIA
Journal CleanWAS
hospital wastewater
mismanagement
pollution. public health
risks
wastewater management
title POTENTIAL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH MISMANAGEMENT OF HOSPITAL WASTEWATER IN TANZANIA
title_full POTENTIAL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH MISMANAGEMENT OF HOSPITAL WASTEWATER IN TANZANIA
title_fullStr POTENTIAL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH MISMANAGEMENT OF HOSPITAL WASTEWATER IN TANZANIA
title_full_unstemmed POTENTIAL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH MISMANAGEMENT OF HOSPITAL WASTEWATER IN TANZANIA
title_short POTENTIAL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH MISMANAGEMENT OF HOSPITAL WASTEWATER IN TANZANIA
title_sort potential risks associated with mismanagement of hospital wastewater in tanzania
topic hospital wastewater
mismanagement
pollution. public health
risks
wastewater management
url https://jcleanwas.com/archives/2jcleanwas2023/2jcleanwas2023-69-75.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT shadrackmwitasabai potentialrisksassociatedwithmismanagementofhospitalwastewaterintanzania