Investigating the Use of Effective Microorganisms for the Restoration of Benghazi Lake

Abstract

Surface water quality monitoring is an important tool for enhancing water quality. Benghazi Lake is suffering water quality degradation due to the various levels of pollutants generated from different contaminated sources. The use of effective microorganisms (EM) for treatment of Benghazi Lake was applied in this study to decrease the level of organic pollutant in the lake. Six points were selected for the study area; laboratory analyses were conducted to determine the values and concentrations of organic pollutants (DO, COD, TSS, TN, TP) before and after adding EM with different concentrations (1gm/l, 5gm/l, 10gm/l, 15gm/l and 20g/l) to the collected wastewater samples from the lake. The tested parameters were measured at intervals of 1, 3, 5 and, 7 days from adding EM to the sample. The concentrations of DO decreased significantly, as the added EM increased whereas all the pollutant levels increased.