Impact of Blackwater Disposal in Erbil City on Municipal Wastewater and Bounded Soil Characteristics with Potential Solutions

Direct discharge of black water (BW) without treatment to the natural environment causes problems for the environment. The present research aimed to examine the impact of direct disposal of BW on the municipal wastewater (MWW) and surrounded soil characteristics in the BW disposal site in Erbil City- Kurdistan Region (KR), Iraq. To check the effect of BW on the boarded MWW and the soil; BW, MWW, BW mixed with MWW (BWMWW), polluted soil, and clean soil samples were collected and analyzed. Samples of BW, MWW, and BWMWW were tested for 32 physical-chemical and biological quality parameters such as pH, turbidity, solids, color, dissolved oxygen, five day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), sulphate, oil and grease, phosphate, Most probable number (M.P.N.) of coliform, Thermo tolerant, M.P.N. E.Coli …etc. In contrast, soil samples were tested for 37 parameters, for instance pH, ORP, organic matter (OM), sulfite, Titanium, Vanadium, Chromium, Manganese, Iron, Cobalt, Nickel, Copper, Zinc, Gallium, Arsenic, Rubidium, Strontium, Yttrium, Zirconium, Molybdenum, Silver, Cadmium, Mercury, Lead, Thorium and Uranium. Results revealed that the direct disposal of BW without treatment commonly affected on the MWW and the surrounded soil characteristics. Potential treatment processes and solutions for BW disposal were presented.