Physicochemical characterization of wastewater from the Al-Hoceima slaughterhouse in Morocco

In the context of the current policy of sustainable management of water resources, the forecasting of pollution risks and the protection of these resources are of paramount importance. For this purpose, the quality of these resources must be safeguarded in the medium and long term. Industrial development in Morocco has made this situation worrying for all socio-economic actors. In recent years, this economic growth has been marked by the establishment of slaughterhouses that discharge their liquid waste into watercourses or sewage networks. These discharges are likely to destabilize the environmental balance in the years to come, hence the need to take responsibility for treating all sources of pollution. The clean-up of these discharges requires several steps from the identification of the various pollutants to their treatment. This is why this initial work was carried out to characterize the wastewater from the Al-Hoceima slaughterhouse and to assess the performance of the treatment plant at this slaughterhouse. The results of the physicochemical analyses showed that the wastewater generated by this slaughterhouse is characterized by a neutral pH of 7.47, a high organic load of 1280 mg O2 L-1 COD, and a remarkable suspended solids content of 259 mL-1. Regarding the performance of the wastewater treatment plant connected to this slaughterhouse; The results show that this plant operates very efficiently, eliminating 65% of the COD, 70.6% of the BOD5 and 65.44% of the TSS, thus eliminating the organic matter, which is 67.82%. For the microbiological charge of these wastewater, the results showed that at the entrance the concentrations of fecal coliforms are 1×106 UFC mL-1, 15×107 UCF mL-1 fecal streptococci and 15×105 for yeast. The effluents discharged by the treatment plant comply with Moroccan standards.