Assessment of Selected Physico-Chemical Parameters of Waste Water from a Gold Mine in Alupe Sub-County, Busia County, Kenya

Abstract

The rise in cost of living and unemployment in the Sub – Saharan Africa has witnessed the rise of both small scale and large-scale mining activities; putting more economic pressure on families to increase their daily income. This economic hardship has led to the search for precious metals like gold and gemstones, resulting in environment degradation as mining involves digging deep into the Earth’s crust in search of these minerals. This study sought to investigate the physico-chemical characteristics of wastewater from the Alupe gold mine in Busia County, Kenya. The five physical parameters investigated include: temperature, electrical conductivity, pH, turbidity and total dissolved solids. The heavy metals under investigation were: Cr, Cd, Pb, Cu, Fe, Co, Zn and Ni. Among the physical parameters, only pH and turbidity recorded values beyond the WHO permissible levels, while all heavy metals recorded values that were beyond the WHO permissible levels. Strong correlation was registered by EC – temperature, TDS – temperature, TDS – EC and TDS – turbidity. Vast majority of metal pairs recorded strong correlation (r ˃ 0.7) indicating the presence of alloys and metal pair complexes. The correlational studies were conducted at 95% level of confidence (P ˂ 0.05). The study recommends treatment of industrial wastes before they are released into rivers and lakes, use of improved processing technologies by industries to regulate the ever-high levels of waste generated during manufacturing and policy review that will see the implementation of environmental laws so as to curb illegal mining.