Source and quality

• Groundwater is found in aquifers that are located below the earth surface.
• As rainfall occurs, some of it evaporates, some of it is removed by plant transpiration and the
remaining water filters down through the topsoil and flows into sand, gravel and fractured rock.
• It reaches a depth where all the pore spaces are filled.
• This saturated zone is called the aquifer.
• Surface water includes streams, rivers, lakes and ponds which are dependent on runoff from
adjacent land or from ground water springs. These are dependent on rainfall rates that vary from
year to year.
• Surface water is subject to contamination from sources such as sediment, chemicals and plant
growth.
• High levels of particles can reduce the life of pumps and clog irrigation systems and multiple filters
may be required.
• It is also possible that surface waters can become contaminated with road salt, industrial,
agricultural chemicals, algae and plant pathogens.
 Source and quality
• Drainage ponds are usually a combination of rain water and run-off. Drainage
ponds commonly contain fertilizers or other agricultural chemicals.
• Because of the size and lack of aeration, biological conditions such as algal
growth may be a concern.
• Rain water can be collected from greenhouses or building roofs without
contacting the ground and held in a concrete cistern, fiberglass or polyethylene
tank, water silo or other holding tank. It is clean except for any debris that gets
into the system.
• Rain water will be very low in elemental or chemical contamination unless
there is industrial air pollution or fallout on the roofs.
• The pH of collected rain may be low (4.0 – 5.0) but is not considered
detrimental to crops because it is not buffered (does not resist change in pH)
and changes readily.
• Rain water is an excellent and underutilized source of irrigation water.
 Purpose of water treatment
• Removal of unwanted behaviour or change
unwanted into wanted
• Intended to get safe or portable water
• For wastewater is intended to make
wastewater safe before disposal into the
environment or suitable for reuse
 Water quality
• These sections detail all of the parameters that affect the quality of
water in the environment.
• These properties can be physical, chemical or biological factors.
• Physical properties of water quality include temperature and
turbidity.
• Chemical characteristics involve parameters such as pH and
dissolved oxygen.
• Biological indicators of water quality include algae, bacteriological
indicators (feacal, total coliforms, E coli etc) and phytoplankton.
• These parameters are relevant not only to surface water studies of
the ocean, lakes and rivers, but to groundwater and industrial
processes as well
 Water quality definitions
• pH is an indicator of acidity or alkalinity.
• Neutral water has a pH of 7, acidic solutions
have values between 0-6 and alkaline
solutions have values between 8-14.
 Alkalinity
• Alkalinity is a measure of the buffering capacity
of water, or the capacity of the water to
neutralise acids and resist pH change.
• Alkalinity within water bodies is consumed as
acid is released from acid sulfate soils.
• Adding limestone contributes alkalinity to
waters, helping to neutralise any acid released
from the sediments. 
• . 
 Salinity
• Salinity is a measure of the amount of dissolved
salts in the water.
• Saline water conducts electricity more readily
than freshwater, so electrical conductivity (EC) is
routinely used to measure salinity. 
• As salinity increases, it may become toxic to
native freshwater organisms. 
• Seawater has a salinity of approximately 55,000
(EC ) μS/cm.
 Turbidity
• Turbidity is a measure of the cloudiness or
haziness in water caused by suspended solids
(eg sediment, algae).
• Turbidity is expressed in Nephelometric
Turbidity Units (NTU) and is measured using a
relationship of light reflected from a given
sample.
• Turbidity is very variable in the Lower Lakes and
influenced primarily by wind events.
 Nutrients
• Nutrients–Total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP)
are the total amount of nitrogen and phosphorus present
in the water body.
• Nitrogen can be present in different forms (e.g. organic
nitrogen in plant material, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite).
• Phosphorus can also be present in different forms (eg
organic phosphorus, phosphate).
• High concentrations of phosphorus and nitrogen can result
in excessive growth of aquatic plants such as
cyanobacteria, phytoplankton, macrophytes and
filamentous algae.
 Chlorophyll
• Chlorophyll a is the main photosynthetic
pigment in green algae.
• The concentration of chlorophyll gives an
indication of the volume of aquatic plants
present in the water column.
• Levels in excess of 15 µg/L are considered very
high ('hyper-eutrophic') and nuisance algae
and plant growth can occur.
 TDS
•  Total dissolved solids (TDS) refers to a measure of all
inorganic solids dissolved in the water. 
• This means that it will measure ions that contribute to
water hardness, like calcium, but also those that do not, like
sodium. 
• The TDS measurement is a better reflection of the total
mineral content of the water rather than a water hardness
measurement. 
• However, for estimation purposes, the water hardness can
be roughly calculated by dividing the ppm (parts per
million) measurement of the TDS by 10 . 
 CONDUCTIVITY
•    Conductivity is similar to TDS measurements. 
• Conductivity is a measure of the ability of a substance to conduct electric
current. 
• Conductivity measurements offer a rapid and non-destructive way to measure
ion content in the sample. 
• The conductivity measurement is made with an electronic sensor or meter in
micro/milli-Siemens per centimeter or ppm. 
• Conductivity increases with increasing ion content, which means that in most
cases it gives a good approximation of the TDS measurement using the
conversion factor of 1 ppm = 2 uS/cm.  Conductivity is temperature sensitive
and is typically standardized to 25°C. 
• While conductivity is a convenient way to get an approximation of the
hardness of water it does have the drawback of combining all ions in the
measurement, including those that do not contribute to the water's hardness. 
 Pathogens
• Disease causing organisms that grow and multiply within the
host
• Resulting growth of microorganisms in a host is called
infection
• Pathogens associated with water include bacteria and are
responsible for cholera, bacillary dysentery, typhoid,
paratyphoid
• These need to be disinfected before the water can be used for
portable purposes
 Oxygen demanding wastes
• DO is important measure of quality of water source
• Saturated value of DO is on the order 8 to 15 mg of O2 per 1 L
of water
• Minimum concentration for healthy fish population is 5 mg/L
• Oxygen demanding wastes are substances that oxidize in
receiving body of water
• As bacteria decompose the wastes they utilise oxygen and
reduce DO
• As DO drops fish and other aquatic life are threatened
 Coont..DO
• Measures of oxygen demand used are:
• Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD): amount of
oxygen needed to chemically oxidize the
waste.
• Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD): amount
of oxygen required by microorganisms to
biological degrade or stabilise the wastes.
 BOD
• Surface waters highly susceptible to contamination (Not covered or
protected)
• Its source of portable water
• Sewage Effluents usually discharged into surface water sources such as rivers
• Such wastes are oxygen demanding i.e. microbes need oxygen to breakdown
the wastes to stable compounds (simpler organic and inorganic substances)
• Breakdown of the substances in aerobic environment (sufficient oxygen)
produces stable end products e.g. CO2, SO4, PO4, NO3. (objectionable)
• When oxygen is insufficient , decomposition is performed anaerobically, by
Facultative or Anaerobic microorganisms.
• End products produced under anaerobic conditions are highly objectionable
e.g. H2S, CH4, NH3.
 BOD
• Amount of O2 required by microbes to breakdown organic matter aerobically is
called BOD

• BOD made up of two parts:

• - carbonaceous oxygen demand (CBOD)
• - Nitrogenous oxygen demand (NBOD)
 BOD TEST
• Five day BOD or BOD5 is total amount of oxygen consumed by microbes during the
first 5 days of biodegradation
• Procedure;
• Place a sample of waste into stoppered bottle and measure the concentration of
dissolved oxygen (DO) in the sample at the beginning of the test and again five days
later
• difference in DO divided by the volume of waste would be the 5 day BOD
• Light should be kept out to keep algae away from adding oxygen through
photosynthesis (experiment done in a dark place)
• Bottle is sealed to keep air from replenishing DO that has been removed by
biodegradation
• Test is run at a fixed temperature of 20˚C
• Usually necessary to dilute the sample to keep the final DO well above zero
 BOD
• 5 day BOD of a diluted sample
• BOD5 =
• DOi = initial dissolved oxygen
• Dof = DO of the diluted wastewater, 5 days later
• P = dilution factor =

• Standard BOD bottle holds 300 mL, so P is just the volume of

wastewater divided by 300 mL.
 Example
• A 10 mL sample of sewage mixed with enough water to fill a
300 mL bottle has an initial DO of 9.0 mg/L.
• To help assure an accurate test, it is desirable to have at least
a 2.0 mg/L drop in DO during 5 day run, and the final DO
should be at least 2.0 mg/L.
• For what range of BOD5 would this dilution produce the
desired results?
 Solution
• Dilution fraction = 10/300.
• To get at least 2.0 mg/L drop in DO, the minimum BOD needs
to be:
• BOD5 ≥ = = 60 mg/L
• To assure at least 2.0 mg/L DO remains after 5 days requires
that:
• BOD5≤ = 210 mg/L
• Dilution will be satisfactory for BOD values between 60 mg/L
and 210 mg/L
 Seeded samples
• So far assumed that dilution water added to waste sample
has no BOD of its own (pure water)

• In some cases its necessary to seed dilution water with

microorganisms
• Seeding done to assure that there is adequate bacterial
population to carry out biodegradation (BOD Exertion)
• So to find BOD of waste itself , subtract oxygen demand
caused by the seed from the demand in the mixed sample of
waste and dilution water
 Seeding procedure
• Two bottles must be prepared
• One containing just the seeded dilution water (blank) and the other mixture of
both the wastewater and the seeded dilution water
• Change in DO blank bottle as well as change in the mixture are noted
• Oxygen demand of waste itself (B0Dw) is determined as follows:

• Where;
• BODm = BOD of the mixture of wastewater and seeded dilution water
• BODw = BOD of wastewater alone
• BODd = BOD of the blank
• Vw = volume of wastewater in the mixture
• Vd = volume of seeded dilution water in the mixture
• Vm = volume of the mixture = Vd + Vw
 BOD

• Let P = fraction of mixture that is wastewater = Vw/Vm so that:

• (1-P) = fraction of the mixture that is seeded dilution water = Vd/Vm
therefore:
• BODw = BODm () – BODd(x), the last term has been multiplied by unity
(Vm/Vm), rearranging gives:
• BODw = - BODd , substituting P and (1-P) into the eqn:
• BODw = since:
• BODm = Doi –Dof and BODd = Bi –Bf
• Bi = initial DO in the seeded dilution water (blank)
• Bf = final DO in the seeded dilution water
• Final eqn for BOD of waste itself:
• BODw =
 Example
• A test bottle containing just seeded dilution water has its DO
level drop by 1.0 mg/L in a 5 day test.
• 300 mL BOD bottle filled with 15 mL of wastewater and the
rest seeded dilution water (dilution of 1:20) experiences a
drop of 7.2 mg/L in the same time period.
• What would be the five day BOD of the waste?
 Solution
• Dilution factor P is:
• P = 15/300 = 0.05

• BOD of the wastewater:

• BODw =

• = = 125 mg/L