Environmental Science (EV10003)

Water Pollution - I

Sudha Goel
Dept. of Civil Eng., IITKgp
Kharagpur 721 302

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 Contents

 Water use: quantity and quality

 Sources of water pollution; Classification of water pollutants;
Overview of water pollution mitigation measures
 Water quality index
 Overview of water and wastewater treatment plants
 Potable water quality requirements (IS 10500)
 Applicable wastewater discharge standards (new standard by the
National Green Tribunal)

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 3
Goel (2019) Water and Wastewater Engineering, Cambridge University Press, Delhi.
 World’s water resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_resources
 World’s water resources

Resource Amount, km3 Percent of total

Usable freshwater 200,000 0.014

Freshwater 35 x 106 2.5

Ground water 11 x 106 0.78

Salt water 1.36 x 109 97.5

Total 1.4 x 109 100

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http://www.unwater.org/statistics_res.html
 MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER DISCHARGES ARE GENERALLY ≥80%
OF THE TOTAL WATER USAGE

CONSUMPTION
WITHDRAWAL
RIVER

RETURN

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 Water Usage

 Withdrawals = consumption + returns

 Withdrawal = water extracted from surface or ground water bodies
 Consumption = water used but not returned (eg., drinking, cooking, evaporation,
transpiration)
 Returns = water returned to water body and can be used in the future (cleaning,
washing)
 Compare per capita water use (national scale):
 Developed (e.g. US) = 1280 gal/cap-d = 1280 x 3.785 = 4845 L/cap-d (USGS)
 Developing (e.g. India) = 609 m3/cap-year = 1669 L/cap-d (MoWR)
 Compare per capita water use (individual scale):
 Developed (e.g. US) = 227 L/cap-d (DeOreo et al., 1996)
 Developing (e.g. India) = 100 L/cap-d (Goel, 2015)
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Masters and Ela, 2012

Offstream water use involves the withdrawal or diversion of
water from a surface or ground water source for:
 Domestic and residential uses (both consumptive and non-
consumptive)
 Industrial uses (both)
 Agricultural uses (consumptive)
 Energy development uses (both)

Instream water uses are those which do not require a diversion or

withdrawal from the surface water sources
Examples of non-consumptive water uses:
 Water quality and habitat improvement
 Recreation
 Navigation
 Fish propagation
 Hydroelectric power production

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 Indian water uses
Estimated water requirements in India for 2010[1]

Sectors or uses of water Water requirements, % use

BCM2
Irrigation 550 78.3
Domestic 42.5 6.04
Industries 37 5.3
Power 18.5 2.6
Navigation 7 1.0
Ecology 5 0.71
Evaporation losses 42 6.0
Total 702 100
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[1] Based on (UNICEF, 2013); National Commission for integrated water resources development plan, 1999
[2] Billion cubic meters
 Sources of pollutants

 Point sources
 Residential and commercial activities (wastewater)
 Industrial activities (wastewater)
 Leachate from municipal and industrial solid waste dumps
 Non-point sources
 Surface runoff – urban (paved areas, traffic emissions, industrial
emissions)
 Surface runoff – rural (agricultural)

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 Water Quality Parameters and the
impact of pollution

 Physical
 pH, temperature, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, ……
 Chemical
 Organic matter: Oxygen-demanding wastes; Synthetic Organic
Compounds
 Inorganic compounds: Toxic heavy metals
 Biological
 Microbes: coliforms, pathogens
 Higher organisms – pestilent species

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Major water quality parameters

 Total Coliforms and Fecal coliforms

 Dissolved Oxygen
 Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
 pH and temperature
 Many others…….

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 Bacteria

 Aerobic respiration: measured in terms of heterotrophic plate

count (HPC) bacteria
 The terminal electron acceptor is oxygen for aerobic bacteria
 Anaerobic respiration:
 Terminal electron acceptors can be any oxidized species like
Fe(III), Mn(IV), CO3-, NO3- except oxygen
 Facultative bacteria can switch electron acceptors depending on
change in nutrient availability or environmental conditions.
 Fermentative:
 Bacteria that can utilize organic compounds as both electron
donor and electron acceptor such13 as coliforms
 Aerobic respiration

Reduction of O (24 e- accepted)

[CH2O]n + O2 CO2 + H2O

Oxidation of C (24 e- donated)

Basically, this is a redox reaction as are most biochemical reactions.

Terminal Electron Acceptor (TEA): O2 in aerobic respiration; Fe(III),

Mn(IV), CO3-, NO3- except oxygen

Fermentation: C6H12O6  3CO2 + 3CH4

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 Coliforms

 Indicator organisms, not always pathogenic

 Coliform bacteria are defined as rod-shaped, Gram-negative non-spore
forming, motile or non-motile bacteria which can ferment lactose with
the production of acid and gas when incubated at 35–37°C.
 Normal inhabitants of the gastro-intestinal tract of warm-blooded
animals
 Best example: Escherichia coli (E. coli)
 Various methods for detection and enumeration
 Most Probable Number [MPN] (fermentative bacterial tube tests were in
use prior to 1900; Winslow, 1916)
 Plate counts – spread plates or pour plates (in use prior to 1900)
 Membrane filtration in combination with plating or microscopy (prior to
Daglia, 1954; Mara, 1973) 15
 Coliform detection

SEM photos of E. coli

Membrane filtration and plating Source: S Mandal, B Mahto

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 Plate counts
and colony forming
units (cfu)

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 Membrane filtration
and optical
microscopy
(Source: Iti Sharma)

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 Oxygen demanding wastes

 Importance of dissolved oxygen levels in aquatic systems

 Saturation conc of DO = 5.1 (40 deg C, 45,000 mg/L TDS) to 14.6
mg/L (0 deg C, 0 mg/L TDS) depending on temperature and salinity
 As temp. decreases and/or salinity decreases - DOsat increases
 Minimum for ecosystems = 5 mg/L
 For cold freshwater systems – recommended levels are 8 mg/L

 Theoretical oxygen demand (ThOD)

 Stoichiometric oxygen requirements based on complete oxidation of
organic matter
 results in consumption (or depletion) of oxygen
 Requires complete elemental characterization or knowledge of
chemical formula
 Calculation based method
 Compare ThOD for various C619 compounds: glucose [C6H12O6],
hexane [C6H14], benzene [C6H6], cyclohexane [C6H12].
 Oxygen demand

 Chemical oxygen demand (COD)

 Strong oxidizing agent like potassium dichromate is added to
oxidize sample at high temp (boiled) and low pH (acidic
conditions)
 Takes a few hours to complete
 Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)
 Oxidation of organic matter and consumption of oxygen by
microorganisms; takes at least a few weeks to do completely
 Generally done in lab for 3 to 5 days, strictly aerobic
conditions
 Simulates natural conditions to the greatest extent
 ThOD > COD > BOD 20
 BOD test

 Standard test conditions: 5 days

 Temp is 20 deg C
 Dilution water contains essential nutrients and microbial seed to ensure
that these factors do not limit bacterial growth
 Light must be kept out; generally incubation in the dark to prevent algal
growth in bottle
 Water seal to be maintained; prevents reaeration during incubation
 Measure DO drop, i.e., change in DO conc; measure DO initial and DO
after 5 days. DO drop in sample blank to be subtracted from DO drop in
sample
 Two conditions that determine usefulness of test results
 Minimum DO drop or change in DO concentration during incubation
should be 2 mg/L, i.e., ΔDO ≥ 2 mg/L
 Minimum DO should be ≥2 mg/L; maximum = DO saturation
 Currently, 3 days is common in India with temperature of 27 deg C
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 BOD Test
Five-day BOD is the ratio of drop
in DO over 5 days and the dilution
factor (Masters and Ela 2008).

BOD5 = (DOi – DOf )/P

where DOi = initial DO of the

diluted wastewater, DOf = final DO
of the diluted wastewater, five
days later;
P = Dilution factor = Volume of
wastewater/volume of wastewater
plus dilution water (a standard
If blank DO is accounted for, then BOD bottle is 300 mL).

BOD5 = Bi and Bf are the DO levels of the

[(DOi – DOf ) – (Bi – Bf )(1 – P)] / P seeded dilution water before and
22 after the test,
Masters and Ela, 2012 Goel (2019) Water and Wastewater Engineering, Cambridge University Press, Delhi.
 Glucose oxidation or biodegradation mediated by bacteria
C6H12O6 + 6O2  6CO2 + 6 H2O

5 days 20 to 30 days

DO conc

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Masters and Ela, 2012 Goel (2019) Water and Wastewater Engineering, Cambridge University Press, Delhi.
 Conc of organic
matter

The BOD reaction constant k is

affected mainly by Temperature.
If the temperature is other than 20
°C then k is modified using the
equation
kT = k20θ(T-20) where k20 is the value
at 20 °C and kT is the value at
temperature T (expressed in °C).
BODt is the amount of BOD utilized at
time t whereas Lt is the amount of The most commonly used value for
BOD remaining at time t. θ is 1.047 (Streeter and Phelps
L0 = BODt + Lt where Lt = L0e–kt and 1925).
BODt = L0(1 – e–kt) 24

Masters and Ela, 2012 Goel (2019) Water and Wastewater Engineering, Cambridge University Press, Delhi.
 25

Masters and Ela, 2012

 NH3 + 2O2 → H2O + HNO3
Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN) includes organic and ammonia nitrogen (not
nitrate) and is used to measure ultimate NBOD = 4.57 mg O2/ mg N

Nitrosomonas converts26ammonia to nitrite and

Masters and Ela, 2012
Nitrobacter converts nitrite to nitrate.
 Problem

A wastewater has a BOD5 of 300 mg/L and a reaction rate k equal to 0.20/day. It has
a total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN) content of 40 mg/L.
i. Find the ultimate carbonaceous oxygen demand (CBOD)
ii. Find the ultimate nitrogenous oxygen demand (NBOD)
iii. Find the remaining carbonaceous and nitrogenous oxygen demand after 5 days have elapsed
If the wastewater were discharged into a river with no initial oxygen deficit, draw
concentration profiles over distance (or time) along the river, for oxygen and various
nitrogen species. sg

BODt = Lo(1-e^-k*t), for BOD5 = 300 mg/L

k 0.2 d-1
L0 = ultimate carbonaceous BOD 474.593 mg/L
TKN 40 mg/L
Ultimate NBOD 182.8 mg/L
BOD remaining after 5 days 174.59
NBOD remaining after 5 days 182.80
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 Problem

Standard BOD5 tests are conducted at 20 deg C. Any change in temperature will result in a
change in degradation rate. At what temperature will the degradation rate increase 3-fold
compared to the rate at 20 deg C? Assume theta = 1.047
Solution:
Temperature = 43.92 deg C

The BOD5 measured for a wastewater sample is 500 mg/L. The reaction rate constant for the
sample was found to be 0.3 1/d. Determine the ultimate carbonaceous BOD of this sample.
Solution:
Ultimate carbonaceous BOD = 643.61 mg/L

If the BOD test is conducted at 27 deg C for 3 days instead of 5 days as is done in India, what is
BOD3 for a water sample with ultimate CBOD of 500 mg/L and k20 = 0.2 1/d?
Solution
k27 = 0.276 1/d, BOD3 = 281.5 mg/L
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END
of
Part-I
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