Environmental Impact Assessment for Disposal of Sewage into Sea Water at Sabratah, Libya Adel A. Banana 1 , Al-Gheethi AA 2 , RMSR Mohamed 3 , Efaq AN 4 , Gadawi AMS 5 1 Environment Engineering Department, Subrata College, University of Zawia, Libya, Email: adelbanana@yahoo.com, 2 Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Johor, Malaysia Email. alisaeed@uthm.edu.my 2 Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Johor, Malaysia Email. maya@uthm.edu.my 4 School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia Email: eanm1984@gmail.com 5 Petroleum Research Centre Tripoli, Libya Abstract The increasing of development in countries with high populations is associated with several impacts on the environment due to human wastes. The present work aimed to assessment of environmental contamination of sea water which received untreated sewage effluents generated from Sabratah city since 1998. The study investigated the physical and chemical characteristics of sea water at the disposal point and inside the sea during the period from May 2014 to February 2015. The sampling points were determined using GPS Map 60 CX. Chemical Oxygen demand (COD), Biological Oxygen demand (BOD5), total dissolved salts (TDS) and nitrogen were determined using international standards methods of water and wastewater. The maximum concentration of COD, BOD and nitrogen was determined at the discharge point, it was 473, 140 and 263 mg L -1 , respectively. Among the heavy metals investigated, the highest concentrations were determined for Fe (0.89 mg L -1 ). It can be concluded that the discharge of untreated sewage into the sea water has an adverse effects on the aquatic organisms diversity in the marine environment and might effect on the human health via consumption of contaminated fishes. Key words: sewage, COD, BOD, pollution, sea water, Sabratah, Libya I. INTRODUCTION The increasing of development in countries with high populations is associated with several impacts on the environment due to human wastes which contains a huge number of pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses and parasites [1]. The discharge of sewage is imperative for the recognition of the right to sanitation. Therefore, many of countries have adopted standards, which regulate sewage disposal on the basis of risk to the public health and the environment. In Libya the management of these wastes has been one of the prime environmental issues. The country has yet to adopt a practical, economic and acceptable approach in managing and disposing sewage. The present practice is direct disposal in sea. However, these practices are unacceptable due to increasing of the smells generated and the volume of the wastes involved as well as increasing the risks to health [2]. Sewage is a complex mixture of organic and inorganic compounds. The disposal of sewage untreated/partially treated into the environment might contribute in the increasing of water pollution [3]. The extreme quantities of organic compounds discharged into the water bodies may cause a reduction of the dissolved oxygen resources and rapid bacterial growth [4]. The high microorganism levels in the natural water that received sewage lead to raise the BOD, resulting in depletion of oxygen levels and pH values required for the various types of living organisms supported by the estuary. In addition, human pathogenic organisms could be the sewage content of animal and plant pathogens; these can go on and infect aquatic animals, livestock as well as wildlife [5]. The health risk of human lies in the transfer of pathogenic microorganisms to humans directly or indirectly which occur through contamination of water [6]. Santhiya et al. [7] revealed that seawater and sediments polluted with discarded sewage in Morocco were heavily contaminated with several pathogenic microorganisms.