International Journal of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering Vol. 2(4), pp. 79-86, June 2010 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/ijwree ©2010 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Comparison of pollutant levels in effluent from wastewater treatment plants in Blantyre, Malawi Victor Chipofya 1 *, Andrzej Kraslawski 2 and Yury Avramenko 2 1 Centre for Water, Sanitation, Health and Appropriate Technology Development(WASHTED), University of Malawi – The Polytechnic, P/Bag 303, Blantyre 3, Malawi. 2 Department of Chemical Technology, Lappeenranta University of Technology, P. O. Box 20, FI-53851, Lappeenranta, Finland. Accepted 19 February, 2010 In Malawi, the requirement to treat wastewater is underscored by the existing regulatory framework, institutional arrangements, and policy guidelines. In addition, formalized national effluent standards exist. This study was conducted to determine the pollutant levels in effluent from municipal wastewater treatment plants in the city of Blantyre, Malawi, and to compare these with Government of Malawi standards and World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines. Data on physicochemical characteristics of the effluent was collected through a desk study. This study established that Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD 5 ) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) levels in effluent from the three major wastewater treatment works in the city are in most cases above the recommended Malawi standards and WHO guidelines. Levels for heavy metals are all lower than the recommended standards except for Cadmium, in the dry season effluent at Limbe wastewater treatment works. In view of the pollution threat posed by the high levels of BOD 5 from the three works, the paper recommends that the assimilative capacity of the receiving watercourses be ascertained to determine the impact of the organic and solids loading in the final effluent upon the aquatic flora and fauna. Key words: aquatic flora and fauna, effluent, municipal wastewater treatment, physicochemical characteristics. INTRODUCTION Polluted water needs to be dully treated in order to minimize its negative effects on people, animals, birds, and aquatic biota. Polluted water is unsuitable for drinking, recreation, agriculture, and industry. It dimi- nishes the aesthetic quality of surface water sources (Kuyeli, 2007). In order to reduce the undesirable effects of polluted water, it is necessary to treat it to meet the consent requirements of effluent quality set by the environmental regulatory agency (Banda, 2007). Waste- water treatment is the engineering process that employs physical, biological, and chemical processes to reduce the concentration of pollutants found in wastewater to a harmless or near-harmless level in the effluent (Banda, 2007). The National Sanitation Policy (NSP) (Malawi Government, 2008) stipulates the need to improve delivery of improved sanitation services. Some of the *Corresponding author. E-mail: vchipofya@poly.ac.mw. Tel: +265 888 878055. Fax: +265 1 870578. strategies for accomplishing this objective include: (1) To provide adequate wastewater disposal facilities at all wastewater generation points and (2) To ensure ade- quate provision of wastewater treatment and disposal facilities for all new piped water supply connections. One of the specific goals in the National Water Policy (NWP) (Malawi Government, 2005) is to ensure water of acceptable quality for all needs in Malawi. In addition, formalized national effluent standards exist in Malawi (Malawi Bureau of Standards, 2005). This study looked at the pollutant levels in effluent from the three municipal wastewater treatment plants in the city of Blantyre, Malawi, and compared these with Government of Malawi and WHO guidelines. MATERIALS AND METHODS Study area The study focused on the three municipal wastewater treatment plants in the city of Blantyre, Malawi, namely: Blantyre wastewater