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Top1. Introduction
Heavy metals containing human, industrial and urban wastewaters, which are discharged into drains, sewage, rivers and lakes causes a serious problem that is a major concern worldwide. Heavy metals are harmful to both human and aquatic life (Stéphanie Lecomte & Ehrhardt, 2001). They are present in environment in soluble form in the aqueous solution over a wide range of pH values and mobile in the natural environment (Baek & Yang, 2004). When wastewater containing higher concentration of heavy metals is discharged into the natural or anthropogenic sites, it affects both aquatic and terrestrial life and is destructive to the environment. Even trace amounts of heavy metal pollution, can produce bioaccumulation through the food chain. When animals, organisms or people drink the water or eat the food contaminated by heavy metals, there will be high contents of heavy metals in the body, leading to a variety of incurable diseases which disturbs the food chain and environment. It occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove the harmful compounds. Water pollution is a major threat in the global scenario. The consequences and effects of pollutants leads to worldwide death and spreading of diseases (Egboh & Emeshili, 2007; Aremu et al., 2008). Water is typically referred to as polluted when it is impaired by anthropogenic contaminants and does not support man, material and environment and undergoes a marked shift in its ability to support its constituent biotic communities (Akhionbare, 2004; Lenntech, 2006). The quality of water for living beings consumption and other functions of human activities cannot be over emphasized. The root cause of water pollution originates primarily from local sources such as population growth, poor land use system, agricultural activities, adulteration, industrialization and other anthropogenic impacts (Oludare et al., 1998; Aremu et al., 2011). Thus, the specific objectives of this research work were to assess the levels of physicochemical parameters (pH, turbidity, temperature, conductivity, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, total organic carbon, BOD and COD) in the food waste water discharged by restaurants, hotels, canteens, mess and confectionaries which are the major concerned areas of drinking water utilized by these active sites and while discharging the waste water they does not obey the standards set by local governing bodies, state government regulations, WHO, CPCB and ICMR.