Management of Hospitals Wastewater

Abstract

Hospital wastewater management is an integral part of human welfare .The improper wastewater management reduces the over all benefits of health care, increase the environmental risks, and decrease the productivity. Wastewater from hospitals and laboratories is of a similar quality to urban wastewater, but it may contain various potentially hazardous components. The most recognized metalic pollutants of concern are nickel, copper, zinc, silver and mercury. On the other hand, non-metallic pollutants of concern include cyanide, phenolic compounds such as picric acid, formaldehyde and other solvents. There are 93 hospitals in Khartoum State with 6801 beds. Every day nearly 2585 cubic meters of wastewater is discharged from these hospitals to the subsurface water, Nile River, and the municipal net without pretreatment or awareness regard the hazardous characteristics of this waste. Annually more than 68 kg of pure silver is discharged from x-ray units to the hospitals sewers without recovering. As a result of these practices water sources and soil may be polluted and thus, community is exposed to infectious and toxic effects. In this study laboratory tests were performed to estimate the characteristics of hospital waste streams and to specify the most occurring hazardous elements. This study made an approach to perform a Hospital Pollution Prevention Checklist and developed a designing program for septic tank units.