Industrial effluents caused environmental pollution and its potential ecological and human health impacts in Ethiopia: A review

Abstract

As a result of discharge of untreated or inadequately treated industrial effluents into receiving environments, in Ethiopia, environmental pollution with persistent inorganic and organic residues are potential threat to human health and the environment. This review explores the potential impacts of industrial effluents to the environment and human health in Ethiopia. Various search engines were employed to collect relevant reports on physicochemical parameters and concentration levels of heavy metals reported in industrial effluents sampled from different industries located in Addis Ababa, and several regional states (Oromia, Amhara, and Sidama), Ethiopia. The results of this review study showed that large concentration levels of Electrical Conductivity, Total Dissolved Solids, Biological Oxygen Demand, Chemical Oxygen Demand, Total Suspended Solids, Total Nitrogen, and Total Phosphorus were found in all effluent samples of the studied industries which exceeds the permissible discharge limits established by the country, Ethiopia. In addition to the excessive release of these effluents into nearby receiving streams and rivers, the lack of adequate wastewater treatment facility was also observed. The review indicates that most water bodies receiving industrial effluents (e.g., rivers) in in the study areas are heavily contaminated with various physical and chemical pollutants, causing environmental and health problems for the communities relying on these water bodies.