Journal of health research in community

Introduction and Purpose: The quantity and quality of industrial wastewater is variable owing to the different lines of production and product variety of industry. Meeting the effluent standards requires proper environmental management. The current study aimed to evaluate the industrial wastewater management in Savojbolagh, Alborz, Iran from an environmental perspective in 2013-2014.
Methods: This study was cross-sectional. The data were collected through field visits, questionnaire (of Iran's Environmental Protection Agency), and controlling data from industrial plants with more than 50 workers (totally 108 units). The questionnaire included questions about the quantity, quality, and management of wastewater. Based on an environmental perspective, the way of managing industrial wastewater was classified into four index: wastewater production, per capita production, BOD (Biochemical oxygen demand) per capita, and COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) per capita which were rated from1 to 6. For each index, a higher score was defined for better management.
Results: The wastewater produced by industries was estimated to be 1942 cubic meters per day. Food industry alone produced 59% of the entire industrial wastewater. The industry related to animal slaughtering was shown to have the highest BOD per capita, 320 g/day per every worker; and the cellulose industry enjoyed the highest COD per capita, 561 g/day per every worker. 76% of the industries under investigation had no strategy to reduce the wastewater production. 34% of these industries possessed treatment plants, while only 17% of them were following the effluent discharge standards. The most common method of treated and untreated wastewater disposal was found to be absorbing well.
Conclusion: Based on this assessment, the management of wastewater was revealed to be favorable in non-metallic minerals industry, but unfavorable in agriculture industry as the wastewater produced by this industry was considered to be an environmental pollutant.