ALBERT

Description: Although significant progress has been achieved in the field of environmental impact assessment in many engineering disciplines, the impact of wastewater treatment plants has not yet been well integrated. In light of this remarkable scientific progress, the outputs of the plants as treated water and clean sludge have become potential sources of irrigation and energy, not a waste. The aim of this study is to assess the environmental impacts of upgrading the wastewater treatment plants from primary to secondary treatment. The Lifecycle Assessment Framework (ISO 14040 and 14044) was applied using GaBi Software. Abu Rawash wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) has been taken as a case study. Two scenarios were studied, Scenario 1 is the current situation of the WWTP using the primary treatment units and Scenario 2 is upgrading the WWTP by adding secondary treatment units. The study highlighted the influence and cumulative impact of upgrading all the primary WWTPs in Egypt to secondary treatment. With the high amount of energy consumed in the aeration process, energy recovery methods were proposed to boost the circular economy concept in Abu Rawash WWTP in order to achieve optimal results from environmental and economic perspectives.

Description: Nile Delta Lagoons have been formed 7000 years before the present. The lagoons were aqua-cultural and ecological keystones for the early Egyptian agricultural civilization. The water quality of Nile Delta Lagoons has been deteriorated with the economic development, population rapid increase, and the related industrialization, which exert high pressure on the surrounding environment. The 4 lagoons (1) Maryut, (2) Edku, (3) Burullus, and (4) Manzala are large is surface area, shallow in depth and located on the Nile Delta that receive great amounts of agricultural drainage, sewage, and industrial effluents before discharging into the Mediterranean Sea. The aim of this study is to monitor and assess the water and sediment quality of the lagoons. In light of this assessment, it was found that excessive nutrients are discharged into these lagoons causing severe eutrophication. In addition, relatively low values of dissolved oxygen were recorded causing fish mortality in the lagoons which amplifies in summer as the temperature increases. The article also examined the physical and biological parameters in addition to the chemical concentration of trace metals (Zn, Fe, Pb, Mn, Cr, and Cd) in the water and sediment samples that were collected from the 4 lagoons. High values of biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total coliform, fecal coliform, fecal streptococci, ammonia (NH3), total nitrogen, and total phosphorus were recorded. In addition, high concentrations of trace metals were found in the water and sediments of the 4 lagoons.