Mekuanint Lewoyehu, Solomon Addisu, Zelalem Liyew, Zebasil Tasew
Floriculture is one of the fast growing sectors in Ethiopia generating income for individuals and the government. However, the industry uses many pesticides and chemicals which damage the environment. Tana flora floriculture found in Lake Tana watershed, Amhara Region, Ethiopia discharges wastes to the environment, affecting the aquatic ecosystem of the lake. So, the current study was aimed to evaluate the level of water quality parameters of effluents discharged from the floriculture. 36 samples were collected from four sampling sites. The collected samples were subjected to the analysis of six water quality physicochemical parameters and four trace metals. The pH, EC, To, PO4-3, NO3-1 and BOD5 of the samples from the impaired sites were found to be in the range 3.91 to 6.52, 592 to 4680 µS/cm, 20.20 to 25.00 0C, 55.3 to 410.6 mg/l, 35 to 76.4 mg/ l and 53.03 to 104.4 mg/l, respectively. The respective values were found to be 6.97,183µS/cm,23.5 0C, 7.37 mg/l, 26.7 mg/l, 33.26 mg/l for the reference sites. The Cu, Zn and Mn content of the impaired sites were found to be in the range 0.31 to 0.74 mg/l, 0.13 to 0.79 mg/l and 0.01 to 0.02 mg/l. Significant differences(p<0.05) were observed between the samples from the reference and impaired sites. Levels of the physicochemical parameters and trace metal contents of the effluent discharges were found to be higher than the samples from the reference sites. This indicates the pollution load of the industry on the environment.
