Author(s)

Lumami Kapepula Vercus^1,2,3,4*, Théophile Ndikumana^2,3, Njoyim Estella Buleng Tamungang^5,6, Musibono Dieu-Donné⁷, Lukusa Mbaya Alain⁷, Nsimanda Ipey Camille⁷, Patricia Luis Alconero^4,8, Bart Van Der Bruggen^9,10

¹Department of Hydrology, Hydrobiology Research Center, Uvira, R.D. Congo.
²Department of Chemistry, University of Burundi, Bujumbura, Burundi.
³Doctoral School of the University of Burundi, Bujumbura, Burundi.
⁴Materials & Process Engineering (IMAP), Catholic University of Louvain, Place Sainte Barbe 2, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
⁵Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Dschang, Dschang, Cameroon.
⁶Department of Chemistry, Higher Teacher Training College, The University of Bamenda, Bamenda, Cameroon.
⁷Department of the Environment, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, D.R. Congo.
⁹Process Engineering for Sustainable Systems (ProcESS), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200f, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
¹⁰Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa.

This study focuses on determining the toxicological risks of urban waste from the city of Uvira, discharged into Lake Tanganyika, on the surrounding population. Volatile organic compounds were measured in a variety of solid waste matrices, including inorganic micropollutants in wastewater and fish. The concentrations of Hg and Pb in the lake were found to be 1.21 and 1.42 μg/L respectively and between 0.83 to 18.36 μg/L of Hg and 8.25 to 670 μg/L of Pb, at the collector outlet. The presence of trace metallic elements, such as Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Sb, Hg and Pb, were detected at high concentrations compared to the WHO standard. An ecotoxicology experiment herein on wastewater samples showed lethal pollutant concentrations of the order of 0.0055 mL/mL which killed at least 50% of fish (LC50), confirming the toxicity of the wastewater. These potentially harmful effluents also contain volatile organic compounds originating in high concentration from the pharmaceutical discharges of the general Uvira hospital, in particular: toluene, ethylbenzene, m-xylene/p-xylene, o-xylene and chloroform in higher concentrations compared to the norm. Other components such as benzene, bromodichloroethane and 1,1-dichloroethane were found to be present, but at a concentration below 0.05 ppb. A variety of trace organics can be suspected to be present as well.

Lake Tanganyika, Lethal Dose, Volatile Organic Compounds, Heavy Metals, Water Pollution

Vercus, L.K., Ndi- kumana, T., Tamungang, N.E.B., Dieu- Donné, M., Alain, L.M., Camille, N.I., Alconero, P.L. and Van Der Bruggen, B. (2021) Deter-mination of the Toxicological Risk of Urban Waste from the City of Uvira Dumped into the North-Western Coast in Lake Tanganyika (Democratic Republic of Congo). Journal of Environmental Protection, 12, 677-693. doi: 10.4236/jep.2021.1210041.