Environmental Parameters Affecting the Algal Diversity in a Sewage Water Treatment Plant

The present investigation was carried out at a tertiary sewage water treatment plant located at El-Kattameya city, Cairo, Egypt, for a duration period of 12 months during 2004. The present work aimed to study the algal diversity (phyto benthos and phytoplankton) of the different tanks (collector, oxidation, settling and effluent) included in the tertiary sewage treatment system with respect to changes in physico-chemical characteristics of sewage water during the different seasons to be used for golf course irrigation. The treatment system is of the physico-biological type. Representing data of the physico-chemical parameters are air and water temperatures, ph, electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended salts (TSS), total alkalinity, nutrients (nitrate, ammonia, phosphate, ortho-phosphorus, phosphorus and silicate), as well as major ions (calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, sulfate and chloride). In addition, the treatment efficiency of the system was evaluated and the suitability of using the effluent in irrigation purposes was discussed