UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

WATER UTILISATION DIVISION

WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT

WQB 780

2009 SEMESTER TEST

23 April 2009

Examiner: Prof. E. M. N. Chirwa Time: 120 minutes

Date & Time: 8:00 AM Maximum: 100 points

Instructions: 1. This is a CLOSED BOOK test. Consultation among candidates and reference
to material not supplied by the examiner and invigilator will result in
expulsion from the examination room and a failing grade for this test.
2. Answer ALL questions in Part I of the test and choose ONE question from
Part II of the test.
3. Write your answers in the answer book provided.
4. Write your name and student number on all submitted materials.
 PART I: Questions 1 to 4, Answer all questions.

Q1 (a) Indicate which parts of the hydrological cycle are:

(i) Sensitive to pollution but not vulnerable to polluting activities. ( 2 pts )

(ii) Vulnerable but not sensitive to pollution. ( 2 pts )

(iii) Vulnerable to polluting activities and sensitive to the pollutants. ( 2 pts )

(b) With respect to the Roman Water Law, National Water Act, and Water Service Act of South
Africa, state the impact and ramifications of:

(i) Adaptation of the Prior Appropriation principle into the National water Laws. ( 5 pts )

(ii) Adaptation of the Riparian Principle into the National water laws. ( 5 pts )

In each of the cases above, give examples of entities or programmes that will be directly
affected and in what manner (how) they will be affected.

[ 16 points ]

Q2 (a) A BOD5 test was conducted using seed wastewater with a strong BOD as seed determined by a
BOD test where the values of initial DO and the DO at day 5 were 8.40 and 3.7 mg/L,
respectively. A volume of 5 mL was used in the BOD test on the seed wastewater.

In the test on the target wastewater – a treated wastewater from secondary clarifiers – the test
was seeded with 0.5 mL of the seed wastewater above. The test was conducted on 50 mL of
sample and the initial DO value of 7.6 mg/L and final DO value of 2.9 mg/L was recorded.

(i) Determine BOD5 of the seed wastewater. ( 3 pts )

(ii) Determine the BOD5 value of the effluent from the secondary clarifiers (sample) ( 3 pts )

(iii) Does the BOD5 value you find in (ii) above make sense? Explain. ( 2 pts )

(iv) If degradation rate coefficient kd is equal to 0.23 d-1 (base e), determine the approximate
BODu of the second clarifier effluent. ( 4 pts )

(b) Explain the significance of Random Errors and Systematic Errors on the quality of laboratory
data. State how each type of error can be minimised. ( 4 pts )

(c) Describe the relationship between Quality Assurance and Quality Control. ( 4 pts )

[ 20 points ]
Q3 (a) State two advantages and two disadvantages of using the following methods as biological water
quality indicators:

(i) Feacal and Total Coliform counts. ( 2 pts )

(ii) BOD5 analysis. ( 2 pts )

(iv) Microscopy. ( 2 pts )

(v) Antibody tagging, such as ELISA, and molecular biology tools such as 16S r-RNA. ( 2 pts )

(b) What are the three important activities in the formulation of an adequate water quality
assessment programme. ( 3 pts )

(c) The following parameters are used to estimate the organic content of a sample. If all these were
determined from the same sample, rearrange and present in the correct order of magnitude –
from smallest to largest:

ThOD; BOD5; COD; UBOD; CBOD; NBOD ( 3 pts )

[ 14 points ]
Q4 The following table shows results obtained from a chemical analysis of a groundwater sample:

Ion (FW)* mg/l eq wt meq/l

Ca2+ 40 80
Mg2+ 24.3 50
Na+ 23 12
Fe(II)TOTAL Fe = 56 120
HCO3- 61 149
SO42- 96 190
Cl- 35 17

pH = 4.3

(* FW = formula weight calculated from atomic weights of components).

( FW: O = 16, H = 1 )

Fe(III)TOTAL = F3+ + Fe(OH)2+ + Fe(OH)2+ + Fe(OH)3 + Fe(OH)4-

The dissociation coefficients for the ferric iron species are shown below:

[Fe 3+ ][Fe(OH) 2 + ]
Ka,1 = +
= 1.58 × 10 3
[Fe(OH) 2 ]

[Fe(OH) 2 + ][Fe(OH) +2 ]
Ka,2 = = 1.0 × 10 1
[Fe(OH) 3 ]

[Fe(OH) +2 ][Fe(OH) 3 ]
Ka,3 = -
= 3.16 × 10 –2
[Fe(OH) ] 4

Using the ion balance error analysis recommended by the Standard Methods for the Examination
of Water and Wastewater (APHA, 2005) – (∑cations - ∑anions)/(∑cations + ∑anions)×100%
– determine whether the analysis is acceptable. Use the rejection level of Error > 5%, i.e., the
analysis is not acceptable only if the % Error value is greater than 5 percent. (20 pts)

[ 20 points ]
 PART II: Choose one question.

Q5 The concentration of UBOD in a runoff of 150 L/s distributed over a length of a river, L = 0.6
km, is 175 mg/L. The flow of the river at point A, QA = 135 000 m3/d. UBOD in leach A-B
decays with a rate coefficient of K1 = 0.47 d-1, base e. The starting cross sectional area at point
A is approximately equal to 18.58 m2.

Second Load
Studied zone Qw =0.5 m3/s
UBOD = 80.6 mg/L
0.6 km

?
S
(
s = D 1 − e − K1 ⋅ x U
K
) s = so ⋅ e −K2 ⋅x U

s=0 Y

18.5 km 38 km

A B X

Assuming the loading conditions calculated in the first 0.6 km leach persist for a distance of
18.5 km:

(a) Calculate the UBOD concentration and flow rate (Q) at the point B. ( 8 pts )

(b) Calculate the UBOD concentration at a downstream point X, 38 km from point B,

assuming constant velocity in the stream. The microbial community downstream of B is
enriched such that a higher degradation rate coefficient, K2 = 0.71 d-1, is observed. ( 6 pts )

(c) The 38 km location downstream of B is used as an intake to fish farms and the UBOD limit
at this location is stringently regulated at 10 mg UBOD/L. Assuming that load
superimposing could work, determine the distance upstream of the point X where a second
waste load of UBOD = 80.6 mg/L and Qw = 0.5 m3/s should be located without violating
the ambient limit of UBOD ≤ 10 mg/L at point X. ( 10 pts )

(d) If the load at point Y is in existence and fully operational, how far downstream of point B
could another intake to fish farms and a wastewater discharge with the UBOD loading
characteristics described in (c) above coexist safely at the same location without violating
the 10 mg/L in-stream standard? ( 6 pts )

ds
Note: U + Ks = SD , for a river SD = w/A where w (M⋅L-1T-1) (Eq. 1)
dx

[ 30 points ]
Q6 (a) Describe the procedure followed to establish the accuracy and sensitivity of a proposed
measurement method nationally and internationally. ( 3 pts )

(b) There are ten basic rules for establishing a successful water quality assessment programme. List
at least eight of these basic rules including an indication of what is NOT allowed during
assessment programme development. ( 4 pts )

(c) Several governments around the world have adopted the principle of “polluter pays” by
introducing hefty taxes for polluters and credits for companies that introduce environmental
conservation measures. In the context of the water sector, explain:

(i) the merits of the system described above. ( 3 pts )

(ii) the demerits of this system. ( 2 pts )

(d) With the aid of a diagram, and in the context of the hydrological cycle, describe how power
generation using coal affects the local and global water quality. In your answer, you should
identify the key activities contributing to pollution, pathways of pollution, and chemistry
involved at specific points. ( 6 pts )

(e) Show the main steps of the mathematical derivation of the linearised form of the BOD - time
relationship using the Thomas Slope Method. ( 6 pts )

(f) Determine the value of the biodegradation rate coefficient (kd) and the ultimate BOD (Lo) for the
continuous BOD experiment shown in Table 1 (below), when BOD removal is governed by
first-order rate kinetics (base e). ( 6 pts )

[ 30 points ]
TABLE 2. BOD Analysis Data

Time, t, days BOD, y, mg/L

0 0
1 52
2 82
3 108
4 123
5 137
6 149
7 158
8 165
9 170
10 175
11 178
12 180

TOTAL POINTS ..................................................................................................................... [ 100 pts ]

 APPENDIX 1

BOD in batch

dL
− = kd L
dt

L = Lo e − k d t

BOD Analysis

(
y = Lo 1 − e k d t )
(D 0 − D t ) - (B o − B t ) f
BOD t =
P

where D0 = measured initial DO for sample+seed experiment, mg/L

Dt = measured DO at time t for sample+seed experiment, mg/L
P = dilution factor, Vsample/300
B0 = measured initial DO in bottle with seed only no sample, mg/L
Bt = measured DO at time in bottle with seed only no sample, mg/L
Vsample = volume of sample in the bottle where D0 and Dt are measure, mL
Vseed = volume of seed in the bottle where B0 and Bt are measured, mL
f = ratio of seed volume/sample volume in the main experiment, i.e., in the bottle where D0 and Dt
are measured, Vseed/Vsample.

Thomas Slope Equations

1
⎛t⎞ 3 ⎛ k2 3 ⎞
⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ = ( Lo k ) −1 3 + ⎜⎜ ⎟t
13 ⎟
⎝ ⎠
y ⎝ o ⎠
6 L

Thomas Slope Regression

a = ( Lo k ) −1 / 3

k 2/3
b=
6 ⋅ Lo
1/ 3

6b
k =
a

1
Lo =
k ⋅ a3