Investigation into the Quality of Major Metal Industries in Ahwaz City

Karoon, in Ahwaz area, receives 51% of metal industries effluents. These effluents contain metal pollutants and various chemical compounds that affect the quality of Karoon river. Some of the industries discharge wastewaters into the karoon river without full treatment. In addition, the effluent of the Ahwaz Steel Co., was discharged into Maleh Stream without treatment.In this research in order to determine the quality of the above industries wastewaters, on the final outlets of each industry, one sampling point was selected; and samples were taken six times in a year and were carried to the labratory under standard conditions. The necessary analysis were done according to standard methods. After statistical evaluation, results showed that Steel National Group discharges has the highest amount of pollution laod of oil and total suspended solid; and the most amount of chemical oxygen demand, chloride, and nitrate discharges in the environment belongs to steel industries.Moreover, the emission factor of each industry was calculated on the base of total production, water consumption, and the amount of wastewater production. Comparing the results indicated that the measured parameters are higher than national and international standard levels for discharging to the environment.