Water Pollution arising from Laboratory facilities of Educational Institutions indulging in Hazardous Chemicals

Abstract

Laboratories of Engineering and Science institutions are major producers of diverse hazardous waste-streams. As these are quite often acidic and laden with heavy metals, their direct disposal can lead to catastrophic environmental concerns. The situation hence warrants achieving a sustainable integral waste management system, but this is not achievable until the intensity of pollution is known. In this regard, the present research attempts to unravel the magnitude of water pollution that arises as an outcome of chemical experiments carried out at laboratories from a typical Engineering college. The Research Methodology sequentially envisaged primarily listing all experiments within the scope of study along with their detailed procedures, followed by compilation of reagent list. Then the preparation of each reagent was determined from ‘Standard Methods’. Further, the strength of each chemical constituent for every experiment was computed to derive ‘net strength’, based on ‘frequency’ of conduction of individual experiments. Finally the obtained results were statistically analyzed for comparison, along with ‘Water Quality Standards’ and ‘Effluent Standards’. The study concludes with a quantitative, qualitative and composite outlook to the problem.