Physico-Chemical Properties of Pharmaceutical Effluents Samples in Lagos, Nigeria

In most developing countries, pharmaceutical effluents generated during drugs production are often times discharged into the environment with little or no treatment, which poses potential toxic effects on the ecosystem. This study investigated the physico-chemical properties of pharmaceutical effluents of three pharmaceutical origins in Lagos, Nigeria to ascertaining their levels of compliance with FEPA and WHO as regards effluents discharge. The operational parameters include: Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Solids (TS), Chloride (Cl-), Nitrate (NO-3). The mean values of pH of the effluents were 5.57±0.20, 7.34±0.38 and 6.71±0.58 for sites the PC1,PC2 and PC3 respectively. Concentrations of heavy metals, such as Copper, Zinc, Chromium and Iron were also determined using the Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The mean concentrations (mg/L) of the heavy metals range from 0.06 to 0.61 for copper,0.00 to 0.32 for chromium and 0.68 to 8.90 for Iron. The results obtained for the heavy metal concentrations were observed to fall within WHO/FEPA stipulated limits, while few of the water quality parameters were found to be higher, which indicate their extents of toxicity to man and his environment.