Abstract
One of the greatest environmental problems of modern countries is the pollution of territories with waste.Of particular concern are the wastes generated during the treatment of municipal wastewater, i.e. sewage sludge.They are the inevitable price of urbanization and improved quality of life.As a result of the research conducted, a comprehensive analysis of the composition of municipal sewage sludge was conducted using the example of four small settlements in East Kazakhstan.The results of laboratory studies established the composition of the organic part, biogenic elements, as well as microbiological and parasitological indicators.It was revealed that cadmium, copper, zinc and arsenic are main sources of problems in wastewater treatment plant sludge.For copper and zinc, the standards set by the European Directive 86/278/EEC were exceeded by up to 3.2 and 1.5 times, respectively.At the same time, there is an increased content of nutrients.Organic matter in all studied samples exceeds the minimum established values by 3.5-3.7 times; the potassium content in all studied samples is 5.1-5.6 times higher than the minimum established value for organomineral fertilizers in the Republic of Kazakhstan.The concentration of hydrogen ions (pH) corresponds to neutral.Tests for the determination of microbiological and parasitological parameters indicate that the studied sludge does not contain various pathogenic bacteria and microorganisms.