What is the impact of industrial activities of wastewater

generation?

Different sources of danger and their impacts on the environment

Overall, some 5–20 per cent of total water usage goes to industry. Water is an important requirement in
many industrial processes such as heating, cooling, production, cleaning and rinsing, and this generates
a substantial proportion of total wastewater.
Mining has traditionally been a major source of unregulated wastewater discharge in developing countries
where more than 70 per cent of industrial wastes are dumped untreated into waterways where they
pollute the usable water supply. It also seeps into the ground, contaminating aquifers and wells. The vast
array of complex organic compounds and heavy metals used in modern industrial processes, if released
into the environment, can cause both human health and environmental disasters. The contaminants in
mine waste may be carcinogenic or neurotoxic to people (e.g. lead and mercury) or extremely toxic to
aquatic organisms (e.g. copper). There are many examples of persistent environmental damage caused
by the discharge of toxic mine waste.
Cooling waters used in industrial processes, like steel manufacture and coke production, not only produce
discharge with an elevated temperature which can have adverse effects on biota, but can also become
contaminated with a wide range of toxic substances.
The food and agriculture processing industry can also be a major producer of wastewater particularly
organic waste with high biochemical oxygen demand resulting in low oxygen levels or even anoxic
conditions in natural waters. Slaughterhouses may also produce biological material such as blood
containing pathogens, hormones and antibiotics.
The most cost-effective solutions usually focus on preventing contaminants from ever entering the
wastewater stream or developing a closed system of water use.

Does climate change also play a role in water

management issues?
Changes to global climate patterns may affect water availability, in the timing and intensity of rainfall or
the period of time without rain, as well as affecting the quality of water in rivers and lakes through
changes in the timing and volume of peak discharge and temperature. Changing climatic conditions affect
water availability in both time and space thus influencing water usage practices. Changes in climate will
also require adaptation in terms of how wastewater is managed. Finally, although still a relatively small
contributor to global emissions, wastewater and its management results in the emission of greenhouse
gases, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). It is worth noting that
methane has an impact 21 times greater than the same mass of carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide, 310
times greater.
Anticipation of more droughts and extreme rainfall events, has impacts for non-existent or old, inadequate
wastewater treatment facilities highlighting the need for infrastructure that can cope with extreme surges
of wastewater. In the low-lying floodexposed land, floods will also spread diseases and cause diarrhoea
through the flooding of open sewage or inadequate sewage infrastructure. Increasing pressure on water
resources through more unreliable rainfall has in some regions pushed the exploitation
of groundwater resources as other sources decline.
The effects of climate change are exacerbated by the rapidly increasing physical expansion of
cities, deforestation and grazing of uplands surrounding cities, and the heavy build-up of infrastructure
and lack of green rain-absorbing vegetation and areas inside cities