Health impact assessment of transmission and discharging effluent from municipal wastewater treatment plants into Urmia Lake

Abstract

Abestract: Introduction: In recent years, discussions related to the water crisis in Iran with the decrease of the water level and level of Lake Urmia and other dangers that have occurred in the water resources sector, have been raised more than before.With water transfer from Zab to Lake Urmia The issue of dryness of the lake crisis has been largely resolved and the lake will reach equilibrium, but unfortunately Lake Urmia has suffered a lot of damage over the past years and has been in a very bad condition for a long time. The problem of drying up Lake Urmia has the strategic, economic, social, environmental and health importance for the country, which is currently one of the biggest environmental hazards in the country. One of these plans and projects is the project of discharging the effluent of municipal wastewater treatment plants into Lake Urmia. Due to the dangers of discharging municipal effluents to the water resources a study to assessment of environmental health impacts is essential. Methods: First, the current environmental status of the lake, the units and facilities of the existing treatment plants, and finally the quality of the effluent from the treatment plants that will enter the lake were determined. Then, according to the amount of pollutants in the treated effluent, the discharge of the effluent into the lake and the capacity to dilute and predict possible changes in the ecology of the lake and the amount of pollutants remaining from the effluent in sediments and lake bottom and in case of dry Complete flooding of the lake assessed the possible adverse effects on public health, especially through the dust released from these sediments into the air. In this regard, first using the descriptive checklist and then using the Pastakia matrix to briefly assess the environmental impact of the project and finally assess the health effects of the project according to the guidelines recommended in the "National Standards of Health Attachment" of the Health Center. The environment and work of the Ministry of Health was done using the Leopold matrix. Finally, executive proposals were made to reduce the potential negative effects of this plan. Result: Assessing the environmental impacts of the project of discharging the effluent of municipal wastewater treatment plants into Lake Urmia by using the Pastakia matrix method for 4 options showed that the first option (discharge of treated effluent to the regenerated lake) has positive effects on the future Environment (physical-chemical, ecological-biological, social-economical-cultural), the second option (discharge of untreated wastewater to the regenerated lake) has positive effects on the social-economical-cultural dimension and on the ecological-biological and physical dimensions - Chemical has negative effects, the third option (discharge of treated effluent to the dried lake) has negative effects on all dimensions of the environment, the fourth option (discharge of untreated effluent to the dried lake) has the most negative effects on all dimensions of the environment. Assessing the health impacts on the two options with the most positive effect (discharge of treated effluent to the regenerated lake) and with the most negative effect (discharge of untreated effluent to the dried lake) was done using the Leopold matrix. For discharge of treated effluent to the regenerated lake, the project of implement the improvement plan is proposed, and for the option of discharging untreated effluent to the dried lake, the project is possible only with remedial options and the improvement plan. Conclusion: This study showed that the discharge of effluent from municipal wastewater treatment plants into Lake Urmia can cause negative health effects, and in case of discharge of untreated wastewater to the dried lake, the negative effects of the project will be more than its positive effects. Keywords:Urmia Lake, Environmental Impact Assessment, Health Impact Assessment, Discharging effluent, Treated, Untreated