Effluent from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is one of the main sources of pollution that seriously affect the physicochemical parameters in water bodies. This occurs particularly when partially treated or untreated effluent is released to various aquatic ecosystems. This constitutes a potential danger to the general environment. To safeguard the lives of human, aquatic and other living organisms, regular monitoring of wastewater effluent to ascertain their compliance with both national and international regulatory limits for water quality improvement is very crucial. This research work was carried out using standard methods to evaluate ten physicochemical parameters from the effluent of two WWTPs in Cape Town, South Africa. Our findings were: temperatures (16.90–25.33 °C), pH (5.85–7.85), EC (923.00–1294.17 µS/cm), TDS (590.72–828.27 mg/L), DO (1.30–5.50 mg/L), SO₄²⁻ (3.23–163.18 mg/L), COD (23.70–898.58 mg/L), BOD (9.17–252.44 mg/L), Cl⁻ (48.17–378.48 mg/L) and PO₄³⁻ (0.10–11.32 mg/L). Temperature, pH and SO₄²⁻ levels in the two WWTPs were within the recommended limit for wastewater discharge by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), South Africa and the United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). However, other parameters did not comply fully with both DWAF and USEPA standards. The result showed that effluents from these WWTPs are possible sources of pollution to the receiving water bodies and calls for enhancement of the WWTPs operations to ensure safe effluent discharge.

废水处理厂（WWTP）的废水是严重影响水体理化参数的主要污染源之一。特别是当部分处理或未处理的污水排放到各种水生生态系统中时，就会发生这种情况。这对整个环境构成了潜在的危险。为了保护人类，水生生物和其他生物的生命，对废水进行定期监测以确保其符合国家和国际法规对改善水质的限制非常重要。这项研究工作是使用标准方法进行的，以评估南非开普敦的两个污水处理厂废水中的十个理化参数。我们的发现是：温度（16.90–25.33°C），pH（5.85–7.85），EC（923.00–1294.17 µS / cm），TDS（590.72–828.27 mg / L），₄ ²⁻（3.23–163.18 mg / L），COD（23.70–898.58 mg / L），BOD（9.17–252.44 mg / L），Cl ⁻（48.17–378.48 mg / L）和PO ₄ ³⁻（0.10– 11.32 mg / L）。南非水务和林业部（DWAF）和美国环境保护署（USEPA）推荐的两个废水处理厂的温度，pH和SO ₄ ^2-含量均在建议的废水排放极限之内。但是，其他参数不完全符合DWAF和USEPA标准。结果表明，这些污水处理厂的污水可能是接收水体的污染源，并呼吁加强污水处理厂的运行，以确保安全地排放污水。