Abstract

Determining pollution load is not a common practice in most Ghanaian industries. This paper is aimed at providing a comprehensive picture of the environmental impacts on the Sisai River as a result of the pollutant loads from a brewery X located in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The effluent flow rate, effluent parameters concentrations and pollutant loads were determined using standard procedures. The effluent from Brewery X had a mean daily flow rate of 1035.85 m³/day, mean Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of 1800.70 mg/l, chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 2844.33 mg/l, TSS of 129.32 mg/l, respectively and p values/rating for all effluent parameters of (p < 0.0001***). The presence of the effluent in the Sisai River will lead to oxygen depletion, increase in plant and animal biomass,reduction of the amount of light available for aquatic vegetation, decrease in species diversity and changes in the dominant biota.

Key words: Effluent, environmental impact, pollution load, eutrophication, Sisai River.