Environmental Science

and Engineering

Ahmed Abdelhakam

Lecture #4
water Characteristics II

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Chemical Characteristics
o Chemical Characteristics play an important role in water
treatment systems, desalination, delivery and utilization.
o The most important Chemical Characteristics:
▪ pH
▪ Acidity and Alkalinity
▪ Hardness
▪ Fluoride
▪ Chloride
▪ Dissolved oxygen
▪ Biological Oxygen Demand

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Chemical Characteristics
❑ pH
▪ pH is a measure of the acidic or basic
characteristics of water
▪ pH = negative log of hydrogen ion concentration.
Specifically, pH = -log [H+]
▪ Range 1-14 (acid-base) , pH of 7 is considered
neutral, below 7 is acidic and above 7 is basic
▪ Low pH: acid rain, mine discharge, industry
▪ The pH value can be measured using
electrochemical measuring systems, litmus
paper, or indicators and colorimeters
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Chemical Characteristics
❑ pH

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Chemical Characteristics
❑ Acidity and Alkalinity
▪ Acidity: a measure of acids in solution or capacity to neutralize
bases
▪ Acidity: Caused by formation of carbonic acid from carbon dioxide
from organic acids, or from air pollution: CO2 + H2O → H2CO3
▪ Acidity: causes the failure and corrosion of iron, concrete and
metals
▪ Alkalinity: a measure of amount of negative ions in solution or
capacity to neutralize acids
▪ Alkalinity is caused by compounds of dissolved chemicals from
rocks and soils
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Chemical Characteristics
❑ Acidity and Alkalinity

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Chemical Characteristics
❑ Chloride
▪ Sources of chloride in natural waters:
➢ Rocks and soil.
➢ Saline groundwater seeping into pipelines.
➢ Drainage of agricultural, industrial and household wastewater
▪ The chloride ion is one of the most important inorganic ions in water.
▪ The salt taste of chloride is subject to the chemical properties of
water, for example some water that contains 250 mg / liter of
chloride ion becomes more salty when the positive ion is sodium, but
the intensity of salinity is lower in water containing 1000 mg / l of the
chloride ion if the positive ions are calcium or Magnesium.
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Chemical Characteristics
❑ Hardness
▪ Hard water is one that does not foam easily with soap.
▪ It is mostly due to calcium and magnesium salts dissolved in it.
▪ Depending on these salts, they are divided into two types:

➢ Permanent hardness due to dissolved

magnesium and calcium sulfate and
chlorides (non-carbonic hardness).
➢ Temporary hardness due to dissolved
calcium and magnesium bicarbonate
(carbonic hardness).

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Chemical Characteristics
❑ Hardness (cont.)
▪ Hardness is typically reported as mg /L as CaCO3 (calcium carbonate)
▪ Hardness Classification:
➢ Soft: 0 to 60 mg CaCO3/L
➢ Moderately Hard 61 to 120 mg/L
➢ Hard 121 to 180 mg/L
➢ Very Hard > 180 mg/L
▪ Benefits of water hard water
➢ Helps calcify teeth and bones.
➢ It reduces lead oxide poisoning to humans from lead pipes.
➢ Soft water is suspected to be related to cardiovascular disease.
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Chemical Characteristics
❑ Hardness (cont.)
▪ Disadvantages of hard water
➢ Increase in soap consumption.
➢ Formation of a lime layer in boilers
in various factories and thermal
power plants, as well as in homes.
➢ It may cause intestinal and skin
diseases in some cases.
➢ Dyeing clothes, dishes, and other
items and household equipment

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Chemical Characteristics
❑ Hardness (cont.)
Water Softening
▪ Water hardness can be controlled in several ways, the most
important of which is sedimentation, either by boiling (for temporary
hardness) or by chemical methods (permanent and temporary).
▪ Boiling: Boiling water reduces the hardness of calcium carbonate
only and does not affect much of the magnesium carbonate
▪ Calcium hydroxide: Adding Calcium hydroxide to hard water
converts dissolved bicarbonate into calcium carbonate that is
insoluble in water

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Chemical Characteristics
❑ Fluoride
▪ There are several minerals that contain
fluorine that find their way to groundwater by
dissolving sedimentary rocks.
▪ A concentration of 1.5 mg / L is beneficial for
children's oral health, but concentrations
higher than this amount have undesirable
effects.
▪ Scores ranging from 3 to 6 may present risks
in the skeletal system (toxicosis).

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Chemical Characteristics
❑ Dissolved Oxygen (DO)
▪ Oxygen is required for most all living things
▪ The amount of dissolved oxygen has a direct effect on the chemical,
biological and natural reactions that take place in water.
▪ The dissolved oxygen in the water affects the taste and the degree of
palatability, and its presence in appropriate quantities in the water is
very important for the organisms that live in the water.
▪ Since most aquatic organisms require at least 6 mg/L of oxygen, at
warmer temperature oxygen can become a limiting factor

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Chemical Characteristics
❑ Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD)
▪ BOD is a measure of the oxygen used by microorganisms to
decompose waste (decaying plant and animal matter).
▪ A large quantity of organic waste in the water supply = a lot of
bacteria present working to decompose the waste, therefore the BOD
level will be high.
▪ As the waste is consumed or dispersed through the water, BOD
levels will begin to decline.
▪ Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) increase with high nitrates and
phosphates and increasing temp

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Bacteriological Characteristics
▪ Itis one of the most important characteristics due to its direct
impact on consumer health.
▪ Microorganisms can either cause an unpleasant taste, odors,
erosion of structures and concrete, a change in the type of water
and pollute the aquatic environment, or they are pathogenic.
▪ It is difficult to do a full water analyzes to determine the existence
of each individual organism.
▪ Indicator: naturally present and has a higher concentration
among germs and pathogens, and it appears in all types of water,
and is easy to detect and enumerate, coexist with pathogens and
germs without bringing disease
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Bacteriological Characteristics
❑ Escherichia coli (E. coli)
▪ It is from the coliform family of bacteria
▪ It is found in the digestive system of
warm-blooded animals.
▪ It is excreted in very large quantities in
the faeces.
▪ If the biological test shows the
presence of these bacteria, it can be
assumed that this water is contaminated
with human excrement, which requires
purification of the water before it is used.
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 Questions

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