2. Methodology
2.1. Sources of effluent, sample collection and analysis
Two rubber factories/sites (Factories A and B) were chosen for
this study. The factories were situated along the Ikpoba River which
runs across the Eastern end of Benin City, South-South, Nigeria. The
entire experiment (baseline wastewater quality monitoring, treatment
in the macrophyte pond, and utilization of resulting effluent
for growing maize plants) began in November 2003 and ended
in March, 2006. The efficiency of water lettuce based macrophyte
pond to treat wastewater from rubber processing industries was
monitored for three months for each inoculation by varying the
retention time. In order to obtain reliable physicochemical and
biological parameters of wastewater from the factories prior to
treatment in the macrophyte pond, baseline wastewater quality
monitoring was performed for one year, starting from November
01, 2003 to November 01, 2004