Environmental Impacts of Floriculture Industry in Debrezeit Town: a Need for Strategic Environmental Assessment
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Date
2013-07
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Addis Ababauniversity
Abstract
Floriculture is one of the booming sectors in Ethiopia, and a good way to generating income for both the owners and the government. Beside this, different environmentalists complain on the industry because the industry uses too much pesticides and chemical fertilizers which damage the environment. The general objective of this research is to assess the ecological impacts of floriculture industries on surrounding environment with respect to the existing environmental regulations/EIA/ and implementation, and assessing a need for strategic environmental assessment/SEA/ which basically focuses on cumulative impacts. The study was conducted on floriculture industry and the surrounding environment where the industries are congested, in Debrezeit town. The necessary data are collected through interviewing the employee (Senior Experts) in floriculture industry, direct physical site observation and assessing existing situation of the study area and by taking sample from the soil and river water. Water samples are taken at five sample points along the Wedecha River which is found adjacent to the industries. Eight parameters (pH, electrical conductivity (EC), Nitrate (No3-N), reactive phosphate (PO4), Biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), Sulfate (SO4), Total ammonia (T-NH3)) are used to analyze ecological impacts of the industries on water body. The soil sample
also taken from two different green houses those are established in different time series. The following parameters, pH, CEC, EC, Phosphorus (P) and total Nitrogen (TN) are used to analyze the impact on the soil by the industries. The founding result indicating that some parameters BOD5 (54 mg/l), PO4 (3.4 mg/l), NO3 (16.6 mg/l), T-NH3
Keywords: Floriculture industry, effluent, EIA and SEA (0.1 mg/l) from
water samples are beyond the standard which is stated by EPA. And the soil sample result of (CEC and EC) also has a great difference when compared to common agricultural soil and the concentration of phosphorus (P)
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Floriculture industry, effluent, EIA and SEA