Water and Soil Quality in the Vicinity of a Vegetable Oil Producing Company and a Poultry Hatchery

Abstract

In the vicinity of two factories, one a vegetable oil company and a poultry hatchery lives a farming community. The crops in the community’s fields have either not been germinating or dying before reaching maturity. A study was therefore conducted to assess the quality of effluent discharged into a stream, water in the stream and in the soil in the surrounding fields. Both the effluent and the water at selected points in the stream were analyzed for some parameters in the dry and rainy seasons. In the soil, pH, phosphorus, organic matter, soil respiration, electrical conductivity and nitrogen were analyzed only in the dry season. The results showed that the effluent and the water at all points sampled were slightly acidic in both the dry season and wet season. The dissolved oxygen was low in dry season but was relatively high in rainy season. The electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids had high concentrations in both seasons. Phosphate was high in the effluent in both seasons. The water upstream had higher levels of dissolved oxygen than at all points down the stream in both seasons. Oil was higher in dry season (p