A PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION ARISING FROM HOSPITAL WASTE DUMPSITES IN BENIN CITY, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study aimed at investigating the effects of hospital wastes on the physical, chemical and microbial parameters of the environment using the Stella Obasanjo Hospital (SOH) and the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) waste dumpsites based in Southern Nigeria as case studies. Soil and water samples were collected three times from the two stations in the rainy season, between the months of June to August, 2012 and analysed for physic-chemical parameters using standard method of APHA. The results of the analysis showed that temperature, total suspended solids, pH, dissolved oxygen and biological oxygen demands for water samples at SOH and the UBTH dumpsites were all within the same range and exceeded NESREA and WHO limits. While iron, zinc, copper and chromium exceeded NESREA limit for their concentration in soil. This study also revealed that none of the two hospitals treated its wastes before disposing.