Surface Water Pollution from Urban and Industrial Waste – A Case Study of the Lumbardhi River Flow, Prizren (Kosovo)

Abstract

Surface water pollution is mainly due to large urbanization, agricultural waste and discharges of production. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the pollutant parameters of surface waters effluents contaminated by synthetic detergents and organic chemical substances. During the study, the following physico-chemical parameters were analyzed: phosphate ion (PO₄³⁻), total phosphate (TP), sodium tripolyphosphate (Na5 P3 O10), sodium perborate (NaBO3 n H2 O), ammonium (NH4+), nitrate (NO⁻₃.), nitrite (NO2 −), water temp. (°C), and hydrogen ion concentration (pH). The correlation between the source water and the current level of pollution of this river was measured in four locations: (Prevalla L1; Reqane L2; City park L3; Vlashnje L4) along the surface course of the Lumbardhi River in Prizren. From the results of the study for both time periods, the chemical parameters values of phosphate ion (PO₄³⁻) for May, 2022 according to monitoring of physico-chemical parameters in Lumbardhi River in Prizren were 0.01. The value of total phosphate (TP) was 0.002, for sodium tripolyphosphate (Na5 P3 O10). The water quality of the Lumbardhi river directly depends on the amount of flows in the river. Poor quality of the water is more pro-nounced during the month of October, when the amount of flows in the river is smaller. Location (L3) had higher pollution as a result of the discharge of urban sewage and city waste. Research has shown the presence of different forms of phosphorus that are higher in the (L2 and L3) locations.