Population toxic plant effects

The flow rate and concentration of wastewater do not remain constant but vary during the course of the day and are also dependent on the time of year. If the flow rate is too high, loss of micro-organisms by washout may occur in secondary treatment processes. If the flow rate is too low, then the lack of nutrients will lead to a reduction of the micro-organism population. Wastewaters entering a treatment plant usually flow first into an equalisation basin, so that the flow rate out of the basin is maintained constant, or between prescribed limits, to protect the subsequent processes. The equalisation tank also reduces the effect of toxic shocks on the biological processes within the main treatment plant. 

The worst chemical disaster in history occurred on December 3, 1984, in Bhopal, India, a city of some 1.6 million people in the state of Madhya Pradesh. On that date in the middle of the night, a tank at the Union Carbide India Ltd. plant leaked between 25 and 40 tons of methyl isocyanate, a volatile colorless liquid, into the atmosphere of Bhopal. This highly toxic gas settled onto the city and its inhabitants in a silent, if odorous, cloud. The results were horrific some 3800 people died and another 2700 experienced total or partial permanent disability. By some estimates, more than 10% of the population of Bhopal—170,000 people—suffered some adverse effect from the methyl isocyanate leak. 

No information regarding health effects of 1,3,5-TNB administered by any route is available in humans. Data presented in abstract form provided limited information on oral and dermal toxicity in animals (Desai et al. 1991). Therefore, studies addressing toxic effects of 1,3,5-TNB in animals after acute oral exposure (since this is the most likely route of exposure for human populations in the vicinity of ammunition plants) would provide needed information for estimation of possible 1,3,5-TNB toxicity in humans. Also needed are acute exposure studies of 1,3,5-TNB after inhalation and dermal exposures because exposure by these routes may occur in spite of the low volatility of these compounds. 

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