Structural and Non-Structural Management of Carcinogenic Wastewater Factors in a Sewage Treatment Plant

Genotoxin materials are a group of chemicals or other agents that damages cellular DNA, resulting in mutations or cancer. Municipal wastewaters, although ranking low in genotoxicity potency, can achieve loading values that are several orders of magnitude greater than those of most industries. Furthermore, Genotoxicity calculations for the urban community municipal wastewater treatment facilities indicate that over 90% of the genotoxic loading is nonindustrial in origin. Although wastewater treatment plant operators are exposed to these substances daily, there is no regulation regarding to genotoxin materials discharge from municipal wastewater treatment plants to water streams in Malaysia, the country which statistics show 30000 cases of cancer annually. Therefore in this study, population forecasted, wastewater volume, flow and load were calculated for a sewage treatment plant in a university campus and then, genotoxin parameters in the wastewater were identified. Finally, structural and non-structural management methods were implemented to control genotoxin factors discharged in water bodies.