Organic and bacterial pollution in the Ebrié lagoon, côte dʹIvoire

A systematic study of some pollution indicators [ammonia (NH4−N), faecal coliforms counts] has been carried out for three years (1993-95) in the urban area of the Ebrié lagoon, evaluating the impact of a sea outfall project. This project, for collecting and forwarding wastewaters of the city of Abidjan to the Atlantic ocean in order to reduce the pollutant load in the lagoon, was initiated in 1994. It failed a few months after the first operation and there is now an overall increase in pollution due to continuous use of the lagoon for dumping domestic as well as industrial and agricultural wastes as a consequence of the malfunctioning of the outfall, which was poorly designed, probably because of insufficient funding.