3 WATER POLLUTION

3.1 Background
Water pollution problems in many parts of the world are far worse. It has been estimated that in
the year 2002, 1.1 billion people lacked access to safe drinking water, and 2.6 billion lacked access
to improved sanitation (WHO, 2004). Most urban centers in Africa and Asia have no sewage
system at all, including many cities with populations over 1 million people. The result is a tragic
rate of morbidity and mortality in the less developed parts of the world. In 2004, it was estimated
that 88 percent of the world’s diarrheal disease (including cholera) is due to unsafe water and
sanitation (WHO, 2004). Worldwide, 1.8 million people die every year from diarrheal disease,
including over 6,000 children under the age of 5 every day (WHO/ UNICEF, 2005). In addition,
recent studies have shown a clear correlation in developing countries between chronic
malnutrition and a lack of safe drinking water due to the ingestion of waterborne human
parasites (Braghetta, 2006).

3.1.1 Water Usage

Roughly 10 percent of the world’s annual runoff is withdrawn for human use each year. While
that small figure may suggest ample supplies for the future, that is not at all the case. Some areas
of the world are endowed with water, whereas others have so little rainfall that human existence
is barely possible. Even areas with adequate average precipitation are vulnerable to chaotic
variations from one year to the next. Unless major water storage and conveyance facilities are
constructed, a region may have plenty of water on the average but not enough to cover needs
during dry spells. As population grows, the demands for water will rise, and the amount available
for each person will drop.

The geographic distribution of water does not match well the distribution of people on the
planet. Asia, with 60 percent of the world’s population, has only 36 percent of global runoff,
whereas South America, with only 5 percent of the world’s population, has 25 percent of the
runoff.

As populations grow and development proceeds, rising demands for water increase the potential
for internal disruption within countries and external conflict with other countries. Many countries
depend on local rivers for their water supply, but their upstream neighbors control the flow. For
instance, Egypt depends on the Nile for 97 percent of its surface water supplies, while its neighbor
Ethiopia controls most of the Nile total flow. The recent standoff between Egypt and Sudan on
one hand and Ethiopia on the other hand over the development of the Grand Rennaiscence Dam
by Ethiopia to deliver 6.0 GW of Hydropower is a typical threat to cause conflict. The filling of
the dam likely to last several years renders the downstream countries worrisome of the supply
assurance for their continued life.
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3.2 Water Pollutants

Water that has been withdrawn, used for some purpose, and then returned will be polluted in
one way or another. Agricultural return water contains pesticides, fertilizers, and salts; municipal
return water carries human sewage, and pharmaceuticals; power plants discharge water that is
elevated in temperature; and industry contributes a wide range of chemical pollutants and
organic wastes. To aggravate the problem, pollutants also enter water from natural sources and
from human sources via nonaqueous routes. Arsenic, antimony, and fluoride often come from
natural mineral deposits through which groundwater flows. Much of the mercury in water is
deposited from the air after being emitted from coal combustion. There is also polybrominated
biphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which are found in water throughout the world and are believed to be
transported largely on dust in the air. The list of pollutants that contaminate water is classified
as follows:

A) Pathogens
Pathogens are disease-causing organisms that grow and multiply within the host. The resulting
growth of microorganisms in a host is called an infection. Examples of pathogens associated with
water include bacteria, responsible for cholera, bacillary dysentery (shigellosis), typhoid, and
paratyphoid fever; viruses, responsible for infectious hepatitis and poliomyelitis; protozoa, which
cause amebic dysentery, giardiasis, and cryptosporidiosis; and helminths, or parasitic worms,
that cause diseases such as schistosomiasis and dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease). Although
it is not the only source of pathogens in water, contamination by human feces is the most
important.

B) Oxygen-Demanding Wastes
One of the most important measures of the quality of a water source is the amount of dissolved
oxygen (DO) present. The saturated value of dissolved oxygen in water is modest, on the order
of 8 to 15 mg of oxygen per liter of water, depending on temperature and salinity. The minimum
recommended amount of DO for a healthy fish population has often been set at 5 mg/L, but a
more careful analysis of the needs of different species of fish at different times in their lifecycle
yields a range of oxygen requirements.

Oxygen-demanding wastes are substances that oxidize in the receiving body of water. As bacteria
decompose these wastes, they utilize oxygen dissolved in the water, which reduces the remaining
amount of DO. As DO drops, fish and other aquatic life are threatened and, in the extreme case,
killed. In addition, as dissolved oxygen levels fall, undesirable odors, tastes, and colors reduce the
acceptability of that water as a domestic supply and reduce its attractiveness for recreational
uses. Oxygen-demanding wastes are usually biodegradable organic substances contained in
municipal wastewaters or in effluents from certain industries, such as food processing and paper

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production. In addition, the oxidation of certain inorganic compounds may contribute to the
oxygen demand. Even naturally occurring organic matter, such as leaves and animal droppings,
that finds its way into surface water contributes to oxygen depletion.

There are several measures of oxygen demand commonly used. The chemical oxygen demand
(COD) is the amount of oxygen needed to chemically oxidize the wastes, whereas the biochemical
oxygen demand (BOD) is the amount of oxygen required by microorganisms to biologically
degrade the wastes. BOD has traditionally been the most important measure of the strength of
organic pollution, and the amount of BOD reduction in a wastewater treatment plant is a key
indicator of process performance.

C) Nutrients
Nutrients are chemicals, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, sulfur, calcium, potassium, iron,
manganese, boron, and cobalt, that are essential to the growth of living things. In terms of water
quality, nutrients can be considered as pollutants when their concentrations are sufficient to
allow excessive growth of aquatic plants, particularly algae and water Hyacinth (on L. Victoria).
Nutrient enrichment can lead to blooms of algae, which eventually die and decompose. Their
decomposition removes oxygen from the water, potentially leading to levels of DO that are
insufficient to sustain normal life forms. Algae and decaying organic matter add color, turbidity,
odors, and objectionable tastes to water that are difficult to remove and that may greatly reduce
its acceptability as a domestic water source.

Nutrients as well as other pollution may come from either point-sources or nonpoint-sources.
The most common point-sources are the discharge pipes from industries and wastewater
treatment plants but may also include discharges from waste disposal sites, mines, animal
feedlots, and large construction sites where the polluted water is collected in networks of pipes
or channels and taken to a central point before discharge. Nonpoint-sources are usually more
intermittent than point-sources and are characterized by many points of entry to the receiving
water. Runoff from agricultural lands, pastures and ranges, small construction sites, urban areas,
abandoned mines, and logging sites are typical nonpoint-sources of pollution.

D) Salts
Water naturally accumulates a variety of dissolved solids, or salts, as it passes through soils and
rocks on its way to the sea. These salts typically include such cations as sodium, calcium,
magnesium, and potassium, and anions such as chloride, sulfate, and bicarbonate. A careful
analysis of salinity would result in a list of the concentrations of the primary cations and anions,
but a simpler, more commonly used measure of salinity is the concentration of total dissolved
solids (TDS). As a rough approximation, fresh water can be considered to be water with less than
1,500 mg/L TDS; brackish waters may have TDS values up to 5,000 mg/L; and saline waters are

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those with concentrations above 5,000 mg/L (Tchobanoglous & Shroeder, 1985). Seawater
contains 30,000 to 34,000 mg/L TDS.
The concentration of dissolved solids is an important indicator of the usefulness of water for
various applications. Drinking water, for example, has a recommended maximum TDS
concentration of 500 mg/L. Many people will begin to notice water tastes salty at about 1,000
mg/L of TDS, although this is very dependent on the particular dissolved constituents. Livestock
can tolerate higher concentrations. Upper limits for stock water concentrations quoted by the
U.S. Geological Survey (1985) include poultry at 2,860 mg/L, pigs at 4,290 mg/L, and beef cattle
at 10,100 mg/L. Of greater importance, however, is the salt tolerance of crops. As the
concentration of salts in irrigation water increases above 500 mg/L, the need for careful water
management to maintain crop yields becomes increasingly important. With sufficient drainage
to keep salts from accumulating in the soil, up to 1,500 mg/L TDS can be tolerated by most
crops with little loss of yield (Frederick & Hanson, 1982), but at concentrations above 2,100
mg/L, water is generally unsuitable for irrigation except for the most salt tolerant crops.

E) Heavy Metals
In some contexts, the definition of a metal is based on physical properties. Metals are
characterized by high thermal and electrical conductivity, high reflectivity and metallic luster,
strength, and ductility. From a chemical perspective, however, it is more common to use a
broader definition that says a metal is an element that will give up one or more electrons to form
a cation in an aqueous solution. These definitions are imprecise, as there are some elements that
exhibit both metallic and nonmetallic characteristics and form anions in aqueous solution. These
elements are sometimes referred to as metalloids and include selenium, arsenic, phosphorus,
silicon, and boron. Including the metalloids, about 80 elements can be called metals. The term
heavy metal is less precisely defined. It is often used to refer to metals with specific gravity
greater than about 4 or 5. In terms of their environmental impacts, the most important heavy
metals are mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and arsenic (As).

Metals may be inhaled, as is often the case with lead, for example, and they may be ingested.
How well they are absorbed in the body depends somewhat on the particular metal in question
and the particular form that it exists in. For example, liquid mercury is not very toxic and most of
what is ingested is excreted from the body. Mercury vapor, on the other hand, is highly toxic. As
a vapor, it enters the lungs where it diffuses into the bloodstream. When blood containing
mercury reaches the brain, the mercury can pass into the brain, where it causes serious damage
to the central nervous system. By contrast, lead does not pose much of a threat as a vapor since
it has such a low vapor pressure, and is most dangerous when it is dissolved into its ionic form,
Pb2+. Lead dissolved in blood is transferred to vital organs, including the kidneys and brain, and it
readily passes from a pregnant woman to her fetus. Children and fetuses are the most at risk

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since their brains are growing rapidly, and exposure to lead can cause severe and permanent
brain damage.

F) Pesticides
The term pesticide is used to cover a range of chemicals that kill organisms that humans consider
undesirable. Pesticides can be delineated as insecticides, herbicides, rodenticides, and
fungicides. There are three main groups of synthetic organic insecticides: organochlorines (also known
as chlorinated hydrocarbons), organophosphates, and carbamates. The most widely known
organochlorine pesticide is DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), which has been widely used to control
insects that carry diseases such as malaria (mosquitoes), typhus (body lice), and plague (fleas). By
contributing to the control of these diseases, DDT is credited with saving literally millions of lives
worldwide. In spite of its more recent reputation as a dangerous pesticide, in terms of human toxicity,
DDT is considered to be relatively safe. In fact, organochlorine insecticides in general are highly toxic to
insects, but their acute human toxicity is relatively low. It was DDT’s impact on food chains, rather than
its toxicity to humans, that led to its ban in the developed countries of the world (it is still used in
developing countries).

G) Volatile Organic Chemicals

Volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) are among the most commonly found contaminants in groundwater.
They are often used as solvents in industrial processes and a number of them are either known or
suspected carcinogens or mutagens. Their volatility means they are not often found in concentrations
above a few µg/L in surface water, but in groundwater, their concentrations can be hundreds or thousands
of times higher. Their volatility also suggests the most common method of treatment, which is to aerate
the water to encourage them to vaporize and disperse in the atmosphere. Since volatilization does not
destroy the VOC but simply transfers it to the air, it is important that the resulting atmospheric
concentration does not reach a level of concern.

Five VOCs are especially toxic, and their presence in drinking water is cause for special concern:
vinyl chloride, tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, 1,2- dichloroethane, and carbon
tetrachloride.

The most toxic of the five is vinyl chloride (chloroethylene). It is a known human carcinogen used
primarily in the production of polyvinyl chloride resins.

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3.3 Biochemical Oxygen Demand

Surface water is obviously highly susceptible to contamination. It has historically been the most
convenient sewer for industry and municipalities alike, while at the same time, it is the source of
the majority of our water for all purposes. One particular category of pollutants, oxygen-
demanding wastes, has been such a pervasive surface-water problem, affecting both moving
water and still water, that it will be given special attention.

When biodegradable organic matter is released into a body of water, microorganisms, especially
bacteria, feed on the wastes, breaking them down into simpler organic and inorganic substances.
When this decomposition takes place in an aerobic environment—that is, in the presence of
oxygen—the process produces non-objectionable, stable end products such as carbon dioxide
(CO2), sulfate (SO4), orthophosphate (PO4), and nitrate (NO3). A simplified representation of
aerobic decomposition is given by the following:

When insufficient oxygen is available, the resulting anaerobic decomposition is performed by

completely different microorganisms. They produce end products that can be highly
objectionable, including hydrogen sulfide (H2S), ammonia (NH3) and methane (CH4). Anaerobic
decomposition can be represented by the following:

The amount of oxygen required by microorganisms to oxidize organic wastes aerobically is called
the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). BOD may have various units, but most often, it is
expressed in milligrams of oxygen required per liter of wastewater (mg/L). The BOD, in turn, is
made up of two parts: the carbonaceous oxygen demand (CBOD) and the nitrogenous oxygen
demand (NBOD).

3.3.1 Five-Day BOD Test

The total amount of oxygen that will be required for biodegradation is an important measure of
the impact that a given waste will have on the receiving body of water. While we could imagine
a test in which the oxygen required to degrade completely a sample of waste would be measured,
for routine purposes, such a test would take too long to be practical (at least several weeks would
be required). As a result, it has become standard practice simply to measure and report the
oxygen demand over a shorter, restricted period of five days, realizing that the ultimate demand
may be considerably higher.

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The five-day BOD, or BOD5, is the total amount of oxygen consumed by microorganisms during
the first five days of biodegradation. In its simplest form, a test would involve putting a sample
of waste into a stoppered bottle and measuring the concentration of dissolved oxygen (DO) in
the sample at the beginning of the test and again five days later. The difference in DO divided by
the volume of waste would be the five-day BOD. Light must be kept out of the bottle to keep
algae from adding oxygen by photosynthesis, and the bottle is sealed to keep air from
replenishing DO that has been removed by biodegradation. To standardize the procedure, the
test is run at a fixed temperature of 20°C. Since the oxygen demand of typical waste is several
hundred milligrams per liter, and the saturated value of DO for water at 20°C is only 9.1 mg/L, it
is usually necessary to dilute the sample to keep the final DO above zero. If during the five days,
the DO drops to zero, the test is invalid because more oxygen would have been removed had
more been available. The five-day BOD of a diluted sample is given by

(1)

Example 1: Unseeded 5-day BOD Test

A 10.0-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 the five-day run, and the final DO should be at least 2.0 mg/L. For what range of BOD
would this dilution produce the desired results?

So far, we have assumed that the dilution water added to the waste sample has no BOD of its
own, which would be the case if pure water were added. In some cases, it is necessary to seed

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the dilution water with microorganisms to assure that there is an adequate bacterial population
to carry out the biodegradation. In such cases, to find the BOD of the waste itself, it is necessary

to subtract the oxygen demand caused by the seed from the demand in the mixed sample of
waste and dilution water.

Fig. 1 Lab test for BOD using seeded dilution water

To sort out the effect of seeded dilution water from the waste itself, two BOD bottles must be
prepared, one containing just the seeded dilution water and the other containing the mixture of
both the wastewater and seeded dilution water (Figure 1). The change in DO in the bottle
containing just seeded dilution water (called the “blank”) as well as the change in DO in the
mixture are then noted. The oxygen demand of the waste itself can then be determined as
follows:

(2)

Rearranging (2) gives

(3)

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.
A slight rearrangement of (3) yields

(4)
Substituting the definitions of P and (1 – P) into (4) gives

(5)

Our final expression for the BOD of the waste becomes

(6)
Example 2: A Seeded BOD Test
A test bottle containing just seeded dilution water has its DO level drop by 1.0 mg/L in a five-day
test. A 300-mL BOD bottle filled with 15 mL of wastewater and the rest seeded dilution water
(sometimes expressed as a 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
The dilution factor P is

P = 15/300 = 0.05

Using (6), the five-day BOD of the waste would be

3.3.2 Modeling BOD as a First-Order Reaction

Suppose we imagine a flask with some biodegradable organic waste in it. As bacteria oxidize the
waste, the amount of organic matter remaining in the flask will decrease with time until
eventually it all disappears. Another way to describe the organic matter in the flask is to say as
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time goes on, the amount of organic matter already oxidized goes up until finally all of the original
organic matter has been oxidized. Figure 2 shows these two equivalent ways to describe the
organic matter. We can also describe oxygen demand from those same two perspectives. We
could say that the remaining demand for oxygen to decompose the wastes decreases with time
until there is no more demand, or we could say the amount of oxygen demand already exerted,
or utilized, starts at zero and rises until all of the original oxygen demand has been satisfied.

Fig. 2 Two equivalent ways to describe the time dependence of organic matter in a flask

Translating Figure 2 into a mathematical description is straightforward. To do so, it is assumed that the
rate of decomposition of organic wastes is proportional to the amount of waste that is left in the flask. If
we let Lt represent the amount of oxygen demand left after time t, then, assuming a first-order reaction,
we can write

(7)

The Solution to (7) is

(8)
Where L0 is the ultimate carbonaceous oxygen demand. It is the total amount of oxygen required
by microorganisms to oxidize the carbonaceous portion of the waste to simple carbon dioxide
and water. The ultimate carbonaceous oxygen demand is the sum of the amount of oxygen
already consumed by the waste in the first t days (BODt), plus the amount of oxygen remaining
to be consumed after time t. That is,
(9)
Combining (8) and (9) gives,

(10)
A graph of Eqs. (8) and (10) is presented in Figure 3. If these two figures are combined, the result
would look exactly like Figure 2.

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Fig. 3 Idealized carbonaceous oxygen demand: (a) The BOD remaining as a function of time, and (b) the
oxygen already consumed as a function of time.

Notice that oxygen demand can be described by the BOD remaining (you might want to think of
Lt as how much oxygen demand is Left at time t), as in Figure 3a, or equivalently as oxygen
demand already satisfied (or utilized, or exerted), BODt, as in Figure 3b. Also notice how the five-
day BOD is more easily described using the BOD utilized curve.

Example 3: Estimating L0 from BOD5

The dilution factor P for an unseeded mixture of waste and water is 0.030. The DO of the mixture
is initially 9.0 mg/L, and after five days, it has dropped to 3.0 mg/L. The reaction rate constant k
has been found to be 0.22 day-1.
a. What is the five-day BOD of the waste?
b. What would be the ultimate carbonaceous BOD?
c. What would be the remaining oxygen demand after five days?

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Solution
a. From (1), the oxygen consumed in the first five days is

b. The total amount of oxygen needed to decompose the carbonaceous portion of the waste can
be found by rearranging (10):

c. After five days, 200 mg/L of oxygen demand out of the total 300 mg/L would have already been
used. The remaining oxygen demand would therefore be

Sometimes the analysis leading to (10) is made using logarithms to the base 10 rather than the
base e, as they were here. The relationship equivalent to (10), but in base 10 is

(11)
where uppercase K is the reaction rate coefficient to the base 10. It is easy to show that

(12)

The BOD reaction rate constant k is a factor that indicates the rate of biodegradation of wastes.
As k increases, the rate at which dissolved oxygen is used increases, although the ultimate
amount required, L0, does not change. The reaction rate will depend on a number of factors,
including the nature of the waste itself (for example, simple sugars and starches degrade easily
while cellulose does not), the ability of the available microorganisms to degrade the wastes in
question (it may take some time for a healthy population of organisms to be able to thrive on the
particular waste in question), and the temperature (as temperatures increase, so does the rate
of biodegradation)

Some typical values of the BOD reaction rate constant, at 20°C, are given in Table 1. Notice that raw
sewage has a higher rate constant than either well-treated sewage or polluted river water. This is because
raw sewage contains a larger proportion of easily degradable organics that exert their oxygen demand
quite quickly, leaving a remainder that decays more slowly

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Table 1

The rate of biodegradation of wastes increases with increasing temperature. To account for these
changes, the reaction rate constant k is often modified using the following equation:

(13)
Where k is the reaction rate constant at the standard 20°C laboratory reference temperature, and k T is
the reaction rate at a different temperature T (expressed in °C). The most commonly used value for is
1.047, and although is somewhat temperature dependent, that single value will suffice for our purposes.

Example 4 Temperature Dependent of BOD5

In Example 3, the wastes had an ultimate BOD equal to 300 mg/L. At 20°C, the five-day BOD was
200 mg/L, and the reaction rate constant was 0.22/day. What would the five-day BOD of this
waste be at 25°C?

Solution
First we will adjust the reaction rate constant with (13) using a value of equal to 1.047:

So, from 10,

Notice that the five-day BOD at 25°C is somewhat higher than the 20°C value of 200 mg/L. The
same total amount of oxygen is required at either temperature, but as temperature increases, it
gets used sooner.

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3.4 The Effect of Oxygen-Demanding Wastes on Rivers

The amount of dissolved oxygen in water is one of the most commonly used indicators of a river’s
health. As DO drops below 4 or 5 mg/L, the forms of life that can survive begin to be reduced. In
the extreme case, when anaerobic conditions exist, most higher forms of life are killed or driven
off. Noxious conditions then prevail, including floating sludges; bubbling, odorous gases; and
slimy fungal growths.

A number of factors affect the amount of DO available in a river. Oxygen-demanding wastes

remove DO; photosynthesis adds DO during the day, but those plants remove oxygen at night;
and the respiration of organisms living in the water as well as in sediments removes oxygen. In
addition, tributaries bring their own oxygen supplies, which mix with those of the main river. In
the summer, rising temperatures reduce the solubility of oxygen, while lower flows reduce the
rate at which oxygen enters the water from the atmosphere. In the winter, ice may form, blocking
access to new atmospheric oxygen. To model properly all of these effects and their interactions
is a difficult task. A simple analysis, however, can provide insight into the most important
parameters that affect DO. We should remember, however, that our results are only a first
approximation to reality.

The simplest model of the oxygen resources in a river focuses on two key processes: the removal
of oxygen by microorganisms during biodegradation, and the replenishment of oxygen through
reaeration at the interface between the river and the atmosphere. In this simple model, it is
assumed that there is a continuous discharge of waste at a given location on the river. As the
water and wastes flow downriver, it is assumed that they are uniformly mixed at any given cross
section of river, and it is assumed that there is no dispersion of wastes in the direction of flow.
These assumptions are part of what is referred to as the point-source, plug flow model, illustrated
in Figure 4.

Fig. 4 The point-source, plug flow model for dissolved-oxygen calculations

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3.4.1 Deoxygenation
The rate of deoxygenation at any point in the river is assumed to be proportional to the BOD
remaining at that point. That is,
(14)

The deoxygenation rate constant kd is often assumed to be the same as the (temperature
adjusted) BOD rate constant k obtained in a standard laboratory BOD test. For deep, slowly
moving rivers, this seems to be a reasonable approximation, but for turbulent, shallow, rapidly
moving streams, the approximation is less valid. Such streams have deoxygenation constants that
can be significantly higher than the values determined in the laboratory.

Substituting (8), which gives BOD remaining after time t, into (14) gives

(15)
where L0 is the BOD of the mixture of streamwater and wastewater at the point of discharge.
Assuming complete and instantaneous mixing,

(16)

Example 5 Downstream BOD

A wastewater treatment plant serving a city of 200,000 discharges of treated effluent having an
ultimate BOD of 50.0 mg/L into a stream that has a flow of and a BOD of its own equal to 6.0
mg/L. The deoxygenation constant, kd, is 0.20/day.

a. Assuming complete and instantaneous mixing, estimate the ultimate BOD of the river just
downstream from the outfall.
b. If the stream has a constant cross section, so that it flows at a fixed speed equal to 0.30 m/s,
estimate the BOD remaining in the stream at a distance 30,000 m downstream.

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Solution
a. The BOD of the mixture of effluent and streamwater can be found using (16):

b. At a speed of 0.30 m/s, the time required for the waste to reach a distance 30,000 m
downstream would be

So the BOD remaining at that point, 30 km downstream, would be

3. 5 Water Quality in Lakes and Reservoirs

You may have read or heard the recently reported massive fish death in Lake Victoria, which has
led to reduced number of fish population (Talapia, Nile perch). This has led to limited catch and
thus increased prices of fish on most landing sites. The phenomenon causing this is yet to be
scientifically established, but pollution of Lake Victoria is one of the issues coming up. In this
section we will endeavor to explain the likely scenario of lake pollution in general.

All lakes gradually accumulate silt and organic matter as they undergo a natural aging process
known as eutrophication. A young lake is characterized by a low nutrient content and low plant
productivity. Such oligotrophic (“few foods”) lakes gradually acquire nutrients from their
drainage basins, which enables increased aquatic growth. Over time, the increased biological
productivity causes the water to become murky with phytoplankton, while decaying organic
matter contributes to the depletion of available dissolved oxygen. The lake becomes eutrophic
(“well fed”). As the accumulating silt and organic debris cause the lake to get shallower and
warmer, more plants take root along the shallow edges, and the lake slowly transforms into a
marsh or bog.

While such eutrophication is a natural process that may take thousands of years, it is possible to
accelerate greatly the rate of change through human activities. This is called cultural
eutrophication. Municipal wastewater, industrial wastes, and runoff from fertilized agricultural
lands add nutrients that stimulate algal growth and degrade water quality. Algae blooms die and
decay, causing unsightly, odorous clumps of rotting debris along the shoreline and thick mats of
dead organic matter in the lake. The decomposition of dead algae uses up available oxygen,

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resulting in the same sort of oxygen depletion problems already mentioned for streams. Among
the first casualties are cold-water fish, whose temperature sensitivity forces them to stay in the
colder bottom waters of a lake where the least amount of oxygen is available. In some lakes,
there are periods of time when anaerobic conditions prevail near the bottom. Not only are
organisms at risk for lack of oxygen, but the toxicity of the water increases as hydrogen sulfide
and metals, such as iron and manganese, which are normally tied up as precipitates in sediments,
are dissolved and released into the lake. Typical case is the current encroachment of the Lake
shores by farmers and industrial establishments. The acceptable buffer zone of 200 meters is no
longer adhered to, and unmonitored industrial discharge into the lake is another monster danger
to the water quality and the survival of aquatic life. Furthermore, due to increased sediments
draining into the lake as result of destruction of swamps acting as filters, the lake basin is
becoming shallower at rapid rate. Scientific studies of these scenarios to reveal empirical
evidence need to be carried out by interdisciplinary researchers whose output can drive policy
formulation for the lake socio-economic and environmental sustainability. The Nile-Basin
Initiative can support such endeavors.

MID 8115 Env Eng & Mgt_SEM I 2021/2022 Lectured by Assoc. Prof. W. Babu M.