Chapter Three

Major Environmental Pollution Problems and Domestic Wastewater

Composition
Major environmental problems

▪ Our environment faces several problems, and many of these seem to be worsening with time,
bringing us into a time of a true environmental crisis.

▪ It is therefore becoming increasingly important to raise awareness of the existence of these issues,
as well as what can be done to reduce their negative impact. Some of the key issues are:
1) Pollution
▪ Pollution of the air, water and soil caused by toxins such as plastics, heavy metals and nitrates,
caused by factors such as toxins and gases released by factories, combustion of fossil fuels, acid
rain, oil spill and industrial waste.
2) Global warming
▪ The emission of greenhouse gases due to human activity causes global warming, which in turn
causes an increase in temperature that then leads to rising sea levels, melting of polar ice caps, flash
floods and desertification.
Continued
3) Overpopulation
▪ We are facing a shortage of resources such as food, water and fuel to sustain the rising global
population, particularly in developing countries. Intensive agriculture attempting to lessen the problem
leads to more damage using chemical fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides.
4) Waste disposal
▪ An excessive amount of waste is produced and dumped in the oceans. Nuclear waste is particularly
dangerous, as well as plastics and electronic waste.
5) Ocean acidification
▪ The increase in the production of carbon dioxide by humans causes the oceans’ acidity to rise, which
has a negative impact on marine life.
6) Loss of biodiversity
▪ Species and habitats are becoming extinct due to human activity. This causes an imbalance in natural
processes like pollination and poses a threat to ecosystems – coral reef destruction is particularly
affected.
Continued
7) Deforestation
▪ Loss of trees in order to make space for residential, industrial or commercial projects means that less
oxygen is produced, and temperature and rainfall are affected.
8) Ozone layer depletion
▪ Pollution caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the air creates a hole in the ozone layer, which
protects the earth from harmful UV radiation.
9) Acid rain
▪ Pollutants in the atmosphere such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides cause acid rain, which has
negative consequences for humans, wildlife and aquatic species.
10) Public health issues
▪ Lack of clean water is one of the leading environmental problems currently.
▪ Pollutants in the air also cause issues such as respiratory disease and cardiovascular disease..
Human activity and development Impact on
Environment

▪ The ecosystem encompasses all living things (animals, plants and microorganisms) and non-living things
(earth, climate, soil, sun, weather, and atmosphere).
▪ All these components make up the environment, and they are critical for the natural and normal functions
of all the activities on the planet.
▪ In short, they are the foundations of the ecosphere and influence the health of all the systems on earth.
▪ For example, ecosystems determine the niche played by each organism and how they interact with non-
living things such as water, light, air and climate.
▪ It’s otherwise said to be an intricate and interconnected system where living and non-living thing's
function.
▪ Due to this intricacy and interconnectedness, any activity that disturbs the natural balance of these
components affects the ecosystem.
▪ Anthropogenic activities top the list as there are numerous human actions affecting this balance.
The Common Anthropogenic activities are

1. Agriculture
▪ With the ever-increasing number of the world’s population, there is similarly a soaring demand for
sufficient food.
▪ The population growth rate is hence driving the world to clear forests in order to create more room for
agriculture.
▪ Based on data by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), more than 40% of earth’s surface
now supports agriculture, and a bigger fraction of these lands were formerly covered by forests. The
result is devastating, as discussed below:

i) Destruction of Wildlife
▪ Forests are critical habitats for wildlife, and as ecosystems supporting the intricate relationship between
the living and non-living things, they have been adversely affected by agricultural practices.
▪ A larger percentage of Europe, for example, was densely covered with temperate forests, but with time
it has been cleared to make room for farmland.
Continued

ii) Global Warming and Climate Change

▪ Population growth-influenced deforestation is to blame for three billion tons of CO2 released into
the atmosphere each year, which is equivalent to the destruction of 13 million hectares of land
annually as put forward by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
▪ This rate of deforestation affects the ecosystem by raising global temperatures and disrupting the
cycle of condensation and evaporation.
▪ Various ecosystems, such as the Polar regions, are, in turn, affected by the rising global
temperatures and changes in the atmospheric water cycle.
iii) Aquatic Resources Degradation
▪ The injection of vast amounts of phosphorous and nitrogen nutrients into natural soils, lands and
water systems due to fertilizer use have created far-reaching effects, altered ecosystems, and
rapidly expanded aquatic dead zones.
2. Deforestation

▪ Deforestation occurs when a forest or stand of trees is removed, converting the land to a non-forest
use.
▪ This changes the ecosystem drastically and results in a dramatic loss of biodiversity. With an
exponential expansion in human beings, more food, materials, and shelter are being manufactured
at stupendous rates, mostly stemming from forestry.
▪ Deforestation can be the result of timber harvesting or of clearing land for agricultural,
commercial, or residential use.
▪ According to international data, an estimated 18 million acres of trees are clear-cut each year to
make way for new development and wood products- that is just under half of all the trees on the
planet since the industrial revolution began.
▪ With trees being one of the largest producers of oxygen, and with millions of different species that
live in forests, deforestation is a major threat to their survival and a big conservation issue.
Continued

▪ It increases greenhouse gases within the atmosphere, which leads to further global warming.
▪ The loss of biodiversity and trees alters the ecosystem and can result in aridity and erosion.
▪ It also results in climate change and extinction, and it can lead to desertification if on a significant
enough scale.
▪ The social impacts can include the displacement of indigenous peoples.
▪ Recent studies have attributed deforestation to the increase of wildfires in areas like the Amazon
Wildfires are equally destructed even more so, displacing both people and entire species.
3. Overpopulation & Overconsumption
▪ Overpopulation has grown into an epidemic since mortality rates have decreased, medicine has
improved, and methods of industrial farming were introduced, thus keeping humans alive for
much longer and increasing the total population.
▪ One of the most severe effects of overpopulation is the degradation of the environment. Humans
require lots of space, whether it is for farmland or industries.
▪ An increased population results in more clear-cutting, resulting in severely damaged ecosystems.
Without enough trees to filter the air, CO₂ levels increase, which carries the potential to damage
every single organism on Earth.
▪ Another issue is humans consume large amounts of resources for their own needs. Some
examples include the mining of natural resources like coal, the hunting and fishing of animals for
food, and the clearing of forests for urbanization and wood use.
▪ The extensive overuse of nonrenewable resources, like fossil fuels, can cause great harm to the
environment. The larger the population, the more fossil fuels will be used, and this results in
copious amounts of carbon dioxide into the air- threatening the extinction of thousands of species.
4. Plastic Production
▪ The invention of plastic has created one of the most problematic pollution problems ever witnessed on
the face of earth. Waste plastic is everywhere on earth, even in the oceans.
▪ Plastics remain in the environment for thousands of years and have long-lasting consequences on the
fragile ecosystems and regulatory cycles.
▪ Presently, the world produces nearly 300 million tons of plastics yearly, and 20% to 40% of this winds
up in the landfills with 10 to 20 million tons finding a way into the world’s oceans, interrupting
aquatic life.
▪ Plastics floating in the world oceans are estimated to amount to 5.2 trillion weighing a total of 268,940
tons, based on a research study done by the World Watch Institute.
▪ The chemicals present in the plastics are released in the waters, interfering with animal’s endocrine
systems and changing their reproduction patterns.
▪ They can also cause rapid cell division, which may result in cancers. Above all, since the plastics
remain in the oceans for years and years, they can ultimately reverse ecosystems with damage costs
approximated at 13 billion US dollars in a year.
Continued

• Wildlife is most affected, and some have even died after consuming unusually great amounts of
plastics.
• A whale found dead on the coast of Scotland in June 2017, for example, had consumed nine
pounds of plastic, causing a blockage in its digestive tract.
• To make the matter even worse, more than 4,000 cases of fish with plastics in their bodies have
been recorded worldwide.
5. Emission of Carbon Dioxide and Other Greenhouse
Gases

▪ The emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, namely methane and hydrofluorocarbons
(HFCs), are human-induced through the combustion of fossil fuels and the use of man-made products.
▪ In a bid to generate energy, the world has continued to depend on carbon-rich fossil fuels, namely gas,
oil and coal.
▪ The combustion of these fossil fuels to produce energy in the years between 1870 and 2013 produced
approximately 400 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
▪ Today, carbon dioxide levels are said to be surprisingly higher than ever in history.
▪ As a result, global temperatures are on the rise contributing to sea-level rise and extreme weather events
like heatwaves, flooding, tsunamis, and droughts.
▪ The sea-level rise and extreme weather events have, in turn, altered ocean and land ecosystems,
impacted food chains and biodiversity, and intensified desertification.
7. Production of Black Carbon

▪ Black carbon particles have been generated by human activities for hundreds and hundreds of years.
▪ Black carbon particles are materials emitted into the atmosphere as smoke and are produced from
cooking with solid animal fuels, burning firewood, diesel car exhausts, and the burning of trees.
▪ The presence of these particles in the atmosphere creates a heat-absorbing layer that gives rise to
increased global temperatures, thus compounding the global warming effect.
▪ Nations heavily dependent on diesel fuel, coal, and burning of wood or cow dung fuel for heating and
cooking are the biggest emitters of black carbon.
▪ Black carbon has also changed weather patterns and reduced rainfall in West Africa and South Asia,
according to various scientific reports.
▪ It has also played a role in the melting of the glaciers in the Himalayan region, threatening ecosystems
and water supplies for millions of people.
Aspects of environmental policies and legislation.

▪ Environmental policy is the commitment of an organization or government to the laws, regulations,

and other policy mechanisms concerning environmental issues.
▪ These issues generally include air and water pollution, waste management, ecosystem management,
maintenance of biodiversity, the management of natural resources, wildlife and endangered species.
▪ For example, concerning environmental policy, the implementation of an eco-energy-oriented policy at
a global level to address the issues of global warming and climate changes could be addressed.
▪ Policies concerning energy or regulation of toxic substances including pesticides and many types of
industrial waste are part of the topic of environmental policy.
▪ This policy can be deliberately taken to influence human activities and thereby prevent undesirable
effects on the biophysical environment and natural resources, as well as to make sure that changes in
the environment do not have unacceptable effects on humans.
Continued

▪ One way of describing environmental policy is that it comprises two major terms: environment and
policy.
▪ Environment refers to the physical ecosystems but can also take into consideration the social
dimension (quality of life, health) and an economic dimension (resource management, biodiversity).
▪ Policy can be defined as a "course of action or principle adopted or proposed by a government, party,
business or individual".
▪ Thus, environmental policy tends to focus on problems arising from human impact on the
environment, which is important to human society by having a (negative) impact on human values.
Such human values are often labeled as good health or the 'clean and green' environment.
▪ In practice, policy analysts provide a wide variety of types of information to the public decision-
making process.
Water Pollution

▪ Water pollution occurs when harmful substances—often chemicals or microorganisms—

contaminate a stream, river, lake, ocean, aquifer, or other body of water, degrading water quality
and rendering it toxic to humans or the environment.
▪ This widespread problem of water pollution is jeopardizing our health. Unsafe water kills more
people each year than war and all other forms of violence combined.
▪ Meanwhile, our drinkable water sources are finite:
▪ Less than 1 percent of the earth’s freshwater is accessible to us.
▪ Without action, the challenges will only increase by 2050, when global demand for freshwater is
expected to be one-third greater than it is now.
Causes of Water Pollution

▪ Water is uniquely vulnerable to pollution. Known as a “universal solvent,” water can dissolve more
substances than any other liquid on earth.
▪ It’s the reason we have Kool-Aid and brilliant blue waterfalls. It’s also why water is so easily
polluted.
▪ Toxic substances from farms, towns, and factories readily dissolve into and mix with it, causing
water pollution.
➢ Agricultural
➢ Sewage and wastewater
➢ Oil pollution
Soil Pollution

▪ Healthy soils are critical for supporting human health. They are essential for food, biomass and fiber
production, the production of certain medicines, and retaining and filtering water.

▪ Healthy soils also play a key role in carbon and nutrient cycles. Soil pollution affects soil fertility; this
jeopardizes food security, which is essential for human survival.

▪ It also poses risks to human health — both indirectly through the consumption of contaminated food and
drinking water, and directly through exposure to contaminated soil.

▪ Soils can become polluted in various ways. For example, repeated pesticide application is a significant
issue because it lowers soil biodiversity and resilience and could lead to the contamination of food and
feed.

▪ Excess nutrients are another source of soil pollution. They lead to ecosystem eutrophication and reduced
biodiversity, and result from fertilizer and manure application or from the deposition of certain air
pollutants.
Land or Soil Pollution

• Land pollution refers to all forms of pollution affecting any type of soil: agricultural, forestry,
urban, etc. Soil pollution is a disruptive element for many biological resources and ecosystems.
• A soil is polluted when it contains an abnormal concentration of chemical compounds potentially
dangerous to human health, plants or animals
Causes of Land or Soil pollution
• Waste Disposal
• Agriculture
• Urbanization
• Mining
• Industrial Wastes
Land pollution effects

On the Environment
• Contamination of groundwater, loss of topsoil, water nutrient enrichment and increased risk of
wildfires (because of the dry conditions created by the pollutants in the soil) are among the
consequences of land pollution.
On Wildlife
• As land pollution and soil erosion progress, animals are forced to shift habitats and adapt to new
conditions. As a result, some species are at risk of extinction.
On Human Health
• The potential effects of soil contamination on human health include breathing disorders, birth
defects, skin diseases, and cancer.
Land pollution prevention
1. Cleanup
▪ Environmental remediation consists of removing pollution from the soil, groundwater or surface water.
▪ Bioremediation (microbes) and phytoremediation (plants) can be used to convert the pollutants into
harmless products.
▪ These are natural solutions that need to be supported by in-depth actions.
2. Green agriculture
▪ Sustainable agriculture is essential as it is meant to control the impact on the cultivated environment,
by minimizing the external contributions (phytosanitary products), by diversifying the cultures and by
using biological treatments.
3. Sustainable forest management
▪ Conservation of the forests is key. Without the protection of the trees, the land becomes dry and starts
to erode.
▪ Therefore, sustainable forestry or logging is crucial to saving the soil from pollution.
4. Proper waste disposal
▪ Be it for industrial or household waste, efficient waste disposal is one of the most effective ways of
curbing land pollution.
▪ This especially applies to toxic and hazardous waste disposal.
Elements of solid waste

There are six functional elements in the activities associated with the management of solid wastes
from the point of generation to final disposal site.
These are:
1. Waste generation
2. On-site handling (sorting, storage and processing)
3. Collection
4. Transfer and transport
5. Processing and recovery
6. Disposal
Continued

▪ Waste generation: those activities in which materials are identified as no longer being of value
and are either thrown away or gathered for disposal.
▪ It can also be defined as stage at which materials become valueless to the owner and since they
have no use for them and require the no longer, and when they wish to get rid of them. Item which
is valueless to the one may be valuable to the others
▪ On-site handling, storage, and processing: activities associated with the handling, storage, and
processing of solid wastes at or near the point of generation.
▪ Collection or Storage : those activities association with the gathering of solid wastes and the
hauling of wastes to the location where the collection vehicle is emptied. Collection refers to how
waste is collected for transportation to the final disposal.
• Is the system of keeping the materials after they have been discarded and prior to collection and
final disposal. Where on-site disposal system are implemented, such as where people discard items
directly into family pits, storage may not be required.
Continued

Improved Storage Facility

▪ Small containers: household container, plastic bins, etc.
▪ Large containers: commercial bins, oil drums, etc.
▪ Shallow pits
▪ Commercial depots: walled or fenced-in areas
Transfer and transport: Those activities association with the transfer of wastes from the smaller collection vehicle to
the larger transport equipment and the subsequent transport of the wastes, usually over long distance, to the disposal
site.
Transportation
This stage where the slid waste is transported to the final disposal site.
▪ Human powered: open-hand cart, hand cart with bins, tri cycle
▪ Animal powered: donkey-drawn cart
▪ Motorized: tractor and trailer, standard truck
Continued
▪ Processing and recovery: Those techniques equipment and facilities used both to improve the
efficiency of the other functional elements and to recover useable materials, conversion products, or
energy from solid wastes.

▪ Disposal: Those activities associated with ultimate disposal of solid wastes Interrelationship of
functional elements comprising a solid waste management system.
It is also final stage of solid waste management which involves safe disposal wastes and where
associated risks are minimized.
There are four methods for disposal
▪ Land application: burial or landfilling
▪ Composting
▪ Burning or Incarnation
▪ Recycling (resources recovery )
Continued

Main sources of solid waste generation

▪ Residential (domestic or household)
▪ Commercial
▪ Institutional
▪ Construction Demolition
▪ Treatment plant sites
▪ Industrial
▪ Agricultural
Domestic Wastewater Composition

Quality parameters
▪ Domestic sewage contains approximately 99.9% water. The remaining part includes organic and
inorganic, suspended and dissolved solids, together with microorganisms. It is because of this 0.1% that
water pollution takes place and the wastewater needs to be treated.
▪ The composition of the wastewater is a function of the uses to which the water was submitted. These
uses, and the form with which they were exercised, vary with climate, social and economic situation and
population habits.
▪ In the design of a WWTP, there is normally no interest in determining the various compounds that make
up wastewater. This is due, not only to the difficulty in undertaking the various laboratory tests, but also
to the fact that the results themselves cannot be directly utilized as elements in design and operation.
▪ Therefore, many times it is preferable to utilize indirect parameters that represent the character or the
polluting potential of the wastewater in question. These parameters define the quality of the sewage, and
can be divided into three categories:
physical, chemical and biological parameters.
Physical Parameters
Continued
Chemical Parameters
Continued
Continued
Biological Parameters
Continued
Main parameters defining the quality of wastewater
Preliminaries
The main parameters predominantly found in domestic sewage that deserve special consideration are:
▪ solids
▪ indicators of organic matter
▪ nitrogen
▪ phosphorus
▪ indicators of fecal contamination
Solids
• All the contaminants of water, with the exception of dissolved gases, contribute to
• the solids load. In wastewater treatment, the solids can be classified according to
• (a) their size and state, (b) their chemical characteristics and (c) their settleability:
Continued

a) Classification by size
▪ The division of solids by size is above all a practical division. For convention it can be said that
particles of smaller dimensions capable of passing through a filter paper of a specific size correspond to
the dissolved solids, while those with larger
▪ dimensions and retained by the filter are considered suspended solids.
▪ To be more precise, the terms filterable (=dissolved) solids and non-filterable (=suspended) solids are
more adequate.
▪ In an intermediate range there are the colloidal solids, which are of importance in water treatment, but
are difficult to identify by the simple method of paper filtration. Water analysis results based on typical
filter papers show that the major part of colloidal solids is separated as filterable (dissolved) solids.
▪ Sometimes the term particulate is used to indicate that the solids are present as suspended solids. In this
context, expressions as particulate BOD, COD, phosphorus, etc. are used, to indicate that they are
linked to suspended solids.
▪ In contrast, soluble BOD, COD and phosphorus are associated with dissolved solids.
Continued
Continued
b) Classification by chemical characteristics
▪ If the solids are submitted to a high temperature (550 ◦C), the organic fraction
▪ is oxidized (volatilized), leaving after combustion only the inert fraction (unoxidized). The volatile solids
represent an estimate of the organic matter in the solids,
▪ while the non-volatile solids (fixed) represent the inorganic or mineral matter. In
▪ summary: Volatile solids (organic matter)
Total solids
Fixed solids (inorganic matter)
c) Classification by settleability
Settleable solids are considered those that can settle in a period of 1 hour.
The volume of solids accumulated in the bottom of a recipient called an Imhoff Cone is measured and expressed
as mL/L.
The fraction that does not settle represents the non-settleable solids (usually not expressed in the results of the
analysis).
Organic Matter
The organic matter present in sewage is a characteristic of substantial importance, being the cause of one of the
main water pollution problems: consumption of dissolved oxygen by the microorganisms in their metabolic
processes of using and stabilizing the organic matter.
The organic substances present in sewage consist mainly of
▪ Protein compounds (≈ 40%)
▪ Carbohydrates (≈ 25 to ≈ 50%)
▪ Oils and grease (≈ 10%)
▪ Urea, surfactants, phenols, pesticides and others (lower quantity)
Organic matter in sewage
▪ classification: in terms of form and size
➢ Suspended (particulate)
➢ Dissolved (soluble)
▪ classification: in terms of biodegradability
➢ Inert
➢ Biodegradable
Continued
▪ In practical terms it is not usually necessary to classify organic matter in terms of proteins, fats,
carbohydrates, etc.
▪ Besides, there is a great difficulty in determining in the laboratory the various components of
organic matter in wastewater, in view of the multiple forms and compounds in which it can be
present.
▪ As a result, direct or indirect methods can be adopted for the quantification of organic matter:
Indirect methods: measurement of oxygen consumption
▪ Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
▪ Ultimate Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BODu)
▪ Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)
Direct methods: measurement of organic carbon
• Total Organic Carbon (TOC)
Continued

a) Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)

▪ The main ecological effect of organic pollution in a water body is the decrease in the level of dissolved
oxygen. Similarly, in sewage treatment using aerobic processes, the adequate supply of oxygen is
essential, so that the metabolic processes of the microorganisms can lead to the stabilization of the
organic matter.
▪ The basic idea is then to infer the “strength” of the pollution potential of a wastewater by the
measurement of the oxygen consumption that it would cause, that is, an indirect quantification of the
potential to generate an impact, and not the direct measurement of the impact in itself.
▪ The BOD test can be understood in this simplified way: on the day of the sample collection, the
concentration of dissolved oxygen (DO) in the sample is determined.
▪ Five days later, with the sample maintained in a closed bottle and incubated at 20◦C, the new DO
concentration is determined. This new DO concentration is lower due to the consumption of oxygen
during the period.
Continued

▪ The difference in the DO level on the day zero and day 5 represents the oxygen consumed for the
oxidation of the organic matter, being therefore, the BOD5.
▪ Thus, for example, a sample from a water body presented the following results
➢ DO on day 0: 7 mg/L
➢ DO on day 5: 3 mg/L
➢ BOD5 = 7 − 3 = 4 mg/L
The main advantages of the BOD test
▪ an approximate indication of the biodegradable fraction of the wastewater;
▪ an indication of the degradation rate of the wastewater;
▪ an indication of the oxygen consumption rate as a function of time;
▪ an approximate determination of the quantity of oxygen required for the biochemical stabilization of the
organic matter present.

The main Limitation of the BOD test

• low levels of BOD5 can be found in the case that the microorganisms responsible for the
decomposition are not adapted to the waste;
• heavy metals and other toxic substances can kill or inhibit the microorganisms;
• the inhibition of the organisms responsible for the oxidation of ammonia is necessary, to avoid the
interference of the oxygen consumption for nitrification (nitrogenous demand) with the carbonaceous
demand
• the test takes five days, being not useful for operational control of a WWTP.
Continued

b) Ultimate Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BODu)

• The BOD5 corresponds to the oxygen consumption exerted during the first 5 days.
• However, at the end of the fifth day the stabilization of the organic material is still not complete,
continuing, though at slower rates, for another period of weeks or days.
• After this, the oxygen consumption can be considered negligible. In this way the Ultimate
Biochemical Oxygen Demand corresponds to the oxygen consumption until this time, after what
there is no significant consumption, meaning that the organic matter has been practically all
stabilized
• For domestic sewage, it is considered, in practical terms, that after 20 days of the test the
stabilization is practically complete. Therefore the BODu can be determined at 20 days.
• The concept of the test is similar to the standard BOD of 5 days, varying only with the final period
of determination of the dissolved oxygen concentration
Continued
Continued

c) Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)

▪ The COD test measures the consumption of oxygen occurring as a result of the chemical oxidation of
the organic matter.

▪ The value obtained is, therefore, an indirect indication of the level of organic matter present.

▪ The main difference with the BOD test is clearly found in the nomenclature of both tests. The BOD
relates itself with the biochemical oxidation of the organic matter, undertaken entirely by
microorganisms.

▪ The COD corresponds to the chemical oxidation of the organic matter, obtained through a strong
oxidant (potassium dichromate) in an acid medium.
The main advantages of the COD test are:
▪ the test takes only two to three hours;
▪ because of the quick response, the test can be used for operational control;
▪ the test results give an indication of the oxygen required for the stabilization of the organic matter;
▪ the test allows establishment of stoichiometric relationships with oxygen;
▪ the test is not affected by nitrification, giving an indication of the oxidation of the carbonaceous
organic matter only (and not of the nitrogenous oxygen demand).
The main limitations of the COD test are:
▪ In the COD test, both the biodegradable and the inert fractions of organic matter are oxidized. Therefore, the test
may overestimate the oxygen to be consumed in the biological treatment of the wastewater;
▪ the test does not supply information about the consumption rate of the organic matter along the time; certain
reduced inorganic constituents could be oxidized and interfere with the result.
▪ For raw domestic sewage, the ratio COD/BOD5 varies between 1.7 and 2.4. For industrial wastewater, however,
this ratio can vary widely.
▪ Depending on the value of the ratio, conclusions can be drawn about the biodegradability of the wastewater and
the treatment process to be employed
Ranges of values of the ratios BODu/BOD5 and
COD/BOD5 for raw sewage and biologically treated
sewage
d) Total Organic Carbon (TOC)

• In this test the organic carbon is directly measured, in an instrumental test, and not indirectly
through the determination of the oxygen consumed, like the three tests above. The TOC test
measures all the carbon released in the form of CO2.
• To guarantee that the carbon being measured is really organic carbon, the inorganic
• forms of carbon (like CO2, HCO−3 etc.) must be removed before the analysis or be corrected
when calculated (Eckenfelder, 1980).
• The TOC test has been mostly used so far in research or in detailed evaluations of the
characteristics of the liquid, due to the high costs of the equipment.
Nitrogen
• In its cycle in the biosphere, nitrogen alternates between various forms and oxidation states, resulting
from various biochemical processes.
• Nitrogen is a component of great importance in terms of generation and control of the water
pollution, principally for the following aspects:
Water pollution
➢ nitrogen is an essential nutrient for algae leading, under certain conditions, to the phenomenon of
eutrophication of lakes and reservoirs;
➢ nitrogen can lead to dissolved oxygen consumption in the receiving water body due to the
processes of the conversion of ammonia to nitrite and this nitrite to nitrate;
➢ nitrogen in the form of free ammonia is directly toxic to fish;
➢ nitrogen in the form of nitrate is associated with illnesses such as methemoglobinemia
Continued

Sewage treatment
▪ nitrogen is an essential nutrient for the microorganisms responsible for sewage treatment;
▪ nitrogen, in the processes of the conversion of ammonia to nitrite and
▪ nitrite to nitrate (nitrification), which can occur in a WWTP, leads to oxygen and alkalinity
consumption;
▪ nitrogen in the process of the conversion of nitrate to nitrogen gas (denitrification), which can take
place in a WWTP, leads to
(a) The economy of oxygen and alkalinity (when occurring in a controlled form) or
(b) the deterioration in the settleability of the sludge (when not controlled).
Phosphorus

Total phosphorus in domestic sewage is present in the form of phosphates, according to the following
distribution
▪ inorganic (polyphosphates and orthophosphates) – main source from detergents and other household
chemical products
▪ organic (bound to organic compounds) – physiological origin Phosphorus in detergents is present, in
raw sewage, in the form of soluble polyphosphates or, after hydrolysis, as orthophosphates.
Orthophosphates are directly available for biological metabolism without requiring conversion to
simpler
Pathogenic organisms and indicators of fecal
contamination
a) Pathogenic organisms
Biological wastewater treatment relies on micro-organisms
The major groups of pathogenic organisms are:
(a)bacteria,
(b)viruses,
(c)protozoans and
(d)helminths.
Water-related disease is defined as any significant or widespread adverse effects on human health,
such as death, disability, illness or disorders, caused directly or indirectly by the condition, or
changes in the quantity or quality of any water
• The number of pathogens present in the sewage of a certain community varies substantially and
depends on:
(a) socio-economic status of the population;
(b) health requirements;
(c) geographic region;
(d) presence of agroindustry's;
(e) type of treatment to which the sewage was submitted.
Continued
b) Indicator organisms
The detection of pathogenic organisms, mainly bacteria, protozoans and viruses, in a sample of water is difficult,
because of their low concentrations. This would demand the examination of large volumes of the sample to detect the
pathogenic organisms. The reasons are due to the following factors:
▪ in a population, only a certain fraction suffers from water-borne diseases;
▪ in the faces of these inhabitants, the presence of pathogens may not occur in high proportions;
▪ after discharge to the receiving body or sewerage system, there is still a high dilution of the contaminated waste;
▪ sensitivity and specificity of the tests for some pathogens;
▪ broad spectrum of pathogens.
In this sense, the final concentration of pathogens per unit volume in a water body may be considerably low, making
detection through laboratory examination highly difficult.
This obstacle is overcome through the search for indicator organisms of fecal contamination. These organisms are
predominantly non-pathogenic, but they give a satisfactory indication of whether the water is contaminated by human
or animal faces, and, therefore, of its potential to transmit diseases.
The organisms most commonly used with this objective are bacteria of the coliform group
Relationship between load and concentration

▪ Before presenting the typical concentrations of the main pollutants in sewage, it is important to be clear about the
concepts of per capita, load and constituent concentration.
▪ Per capita load represents the average contribution of each individual (expressed in terms of pollutant mass) per
unit time.
▪ A commonly used unit is grams per inhabitant per day (g/inhab.d). For example, when the BOD contribution is 54
g/inhab.d, it is equivalent to saying that every individual discharges 54 grams of BOD on average, per day
▪ The influent load to a WWTP corresponds to the quantity of pollutant (mass) per unit time. In this way, import
relations are
Continued

The concentration of a wastewater can be obtained through the rearrangement of the same
dimensional relations
concentration = load/flow

Example
Calculate the total nitrogen load in the influent to a WWTP, given that:
concentration = 45 mgN/L
flow = 50 L/s
Assignment 1

ࢬ Write a note on The main parameters predominantly found in Industrial sewage or industrial
waste water and treatment mechanism of industrial waste water or industrial sewage in detail.
▪ Page limitation [10 - 15]
▪ Assignment is done Individually
▪ Submission date is May 23, 2023
▪ Copying from one another is strictly forbidden
▪ You are free to include different sub topics that explain, or illustrate, clarify, or justify about the main parameters
of industrial sewage or industrial wastewater
End of Chapter 3
Thank you

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