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ASPECTS OF WATER AND

WASTEWATER QUALITY

Chapter 2

Definition
• Water quality is the term used to express the
suitability of water to sustain various uses or
processes. Pure water is many times not
available in nature

IMPURITIES PRESENT IN NATURE

• Minerals
• Organic materials
• Living organisms
• Radioactive materials

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Is Water Safe To Drink? - Standards

Drinking water requirements

• Be completely free of pathogenic micro-
organisms that can cause disease;
• Contain no element or compound in
concentrations that can cause acute or long-
term adverse effect on human health;
• Be fairly clear and aesthetically attractive,
i.e., low turbidity and colour;
• Not be saline to cause salty taste;
• Not cause corrosion, scale formation,
discolouration or staining;
• Not have a temperature unacceptable to the
consumers.

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Classification
• Physical: Solids, colour, taste, odour,
temperature, turbidity
• Chemical: pH, conductivity, dissolved
oxygen, iron, manganese, nitrate, nitrite,
heavy metals
• Microbiological and biological: bacteria,
protozoa, viruses, helmiths, higher organisms

Water Sampling
• Sampling is one of the most basic
and important aspect of water
quality management.
• For sample collection, its
important to know:
– Where should samples be taken
– How can representative sample be
obtained,
– What preservation and analytical
methods are required to provide
reliable and accurate data

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Physical - Solids
Classification by size
• Colloidal
• Settleable
• Suspended
• Dissolved

Physical Factors
TSS – Total Suspended Solids can be
measured by taking the amount of solid
separated from a water sample.

Measurement in mg/L

TDS – Total dissolved solids can be

measured through evaporation and
measured in mg/L

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Muffle
Settable Imhoff Oven
Sample TS oven TVS
Solids cone 105°C
550°C

Glass fiber filter

Solids Filtrate

Oven Oven
105°C 105°C

TSS TDS

Muffle Muffle
oven oven
550°C 550°C
VSS FSS VDS FDS

TVS TFS

TS

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Example
The following results were obtained for a
waste water sample of volume 85 mL.
Determine the concentration of total solids
and volatile solids expressed as mg/L.

Tare mass of evaporating dish = 22.6435 g

Mass of evaporating dish plus residue after
evaporating at 105oC = 22.6783 g
Mass of evaporating dish plus residue after
ignition at 550oC = 22.6768 g

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Turbidity
• Caused by wide variety of suspended materials.
Sources are domestic & industrial wastes
• Significance
– Aesthetics
– Filterability
– Disinfection

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TURBIDITY
• Turbidity is a measure of the degree to which the
water looses its transparency due to the presence
of suspended particulates.

• A turbidity measurement could be used to provide

an estimation of the TSS (Total Suspended
Solids)

Significance
Aesthetics
Filterability
Disinfection

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Causes of Turbidity

There are various parameters influencing the cloudiness of

the water. Some of these are:

• Phytoplankton
• Sediments from erosion
• Resuspended sediments from the bottom
(frequently stir up by bottom feeders like carp)
• Waste discharge
• Algae growth
• Urban runoff

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Ways to Measure Turbidity

Turbidity is measured in NTU: Nephelometric

Turbidity Units.
The instrument used for measuring it is called
nephelometer, colorimeter or turbidimeter, which
measures the intensity of light scattered at 90
degrees as a beam of light passes through a water
sample.
In lakes or bays, turbidity is measured with a secchi
disk

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Turbidity Values?
• Turbidity is measured in NTUs and
sometimes FTUs (Forel Turbidity Units)

• No suspended solids present is a value of

O NTU, while drinking water should be no
more than 5 NTU

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Colour
• True colour and Apparent colour
• Sources: industrial waste water, natural
minerals (Fe & Mn)
• Determined by comparison with standard
solutions.

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pH
• Considered in chemical coagulation, disinfection,
water softening.
• Determined using meters.

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Temperature /EC/ Dissolved oxygen

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Four major categories of Laboratory tests for determination

of wastewater quality used in environmental permits

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Microbiological water quality

Some water quality parameters can be detected by human
senses of;
• Sight – (Colour, turbidity)
• Taste – salty , bitterness
• Smell – odour
The presence of pathogens and some poison levels can not
be detected by human senses

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Water sampling methods

• Sampling from a tap
– Remove any attachments e.g. nozzles, pipes
– Clean the tap mouth with a clean cloth / tissue
– Open the tap and leave running for about 1 min
– Take a sample
• Sampling from a lake
– Dip the open mouth of the sampling cup into the
water to a depth ~ 30cm.
– Scoop out the sample
– Lift it carefully and place on a clean surface.
– For rivers, it is taken against the current flow.
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Water sampling methods

• Sampling from open well or Storage tank
– Attach a cable to sample cup.
– Lower the cup into a well/tank. The cup should not
touch the walls. Submerge it to a depth of ~ 30cm
– Lift the cup carefully and place on a clean surface.

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Sample preservation & Storage

• Examination of bacteriological water samples should be
performed immediately after collection. If testing cannot be
started within one hour of sampling, the sample should be iced
or refrigerated at 4°C or less. If samples are iced during
transport or storage, use only enough ice to maintain the
required preservation temperature. Excess ice can submerge
the sample bottles after melting and potentially contaminate
the sample.

• The maximum recommended holding time for fecal coliform

samples from wastewater is 6 hours. If the shipping time of
the samples is consistently greater than the recommended
holding time, consider doing on-site testing for fecal coliforms.
The storage temperature and holding time should be recorded
as a part of the test data.
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Analysis
• Faecal contamination of the water is routinely
detected by microbiological analysis

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Characteristics of indicator organisms

• abundant in excrement but absent, or present
only in small numbers, in other sources;
• they should be easily isolated, identified and
enumerated and
• should be unable to grow in water.
• They should also survive longer than
pathogens in water and be more resistant to
disinfectants, such as chlorine.

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Indicator organisms - Examples

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Indicator organisms - Examples

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Risk levels
E-coli Risk level
indicator per
100 ml
<0 A Conformity
1 – 10 B Low
11 – 100 C Intermediate
101 – 1000 D High
> 1000 E Very high

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Relative Risk Assessment

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Sanitary Inspection
A sanitary inspection is an on-site inspection and
evaluation of all conditions, devices, and
practices in the water-supply system that poses
an actual or potential danger to the health and
well-being of the consumer. It is a fact-finding
activity that should identify system deficiencies—
not only sources of actual contamination but also
inadequacies and lack of integrity in the system
that could lead to contamination. It applies to all
water supply system including improved and
unimproved/surface water sources.

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Analytical techniques
• Multiple fermentation tube/most probable
number technique
• Membrane filter technique
• Spread plate method

In the first method, measured portions of a water sample

are placed in test tubes containing a culture medium.
The tubes are then incubated for a standard time at a
standard temperature.
In the second technique, a measured volume of sample
is passed through a fine filter that retains bacteria. The
filter is then placed on culture medium and incubated.

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Membrane Filter Technique

• Gives a direct count of total & faecal coliforms
present in a given water sample.
• A known volume filtered through a cellulose
acetate membrane.
• Not suitable for natural waters with high levels
of suspended materials (why?)
• For highly polluted waters, dilution is needed
(why?)

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Membrane Filter Technique

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Membrane Filter Technique

• Each of the bacteria clump is a colony
forming unit (cfu).
• The result is reported as coliforms (No.)
cfu per 100 ml.

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Compact plates

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Compact plates

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Spread plate Technique

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Principle of Spread Plate Technique

The spread plate technique involves using a
sterilized spreader with a smooth surface
made of metal or glass to apply a small
amount of bacteria suspended in a solution
over a plate. The plate needs to be dry and at
room temperature so that the agar can absorb
the bacteria more readily. A successful spread
plate will have a countable number of isolated
bacterial colonies evenly distributed on the
plate
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Procedure of Spread Plate

Technique
1. Make a dilution series from 1mL or 1g of a sample.
2. Pipette out 0.1 ml from the appropriate desired
dilution series onto the center of the surface of an
agar plate.
3. Spread the sample evenly over the surface of agar
using the sterile glass spreader.
4. Incubate the plate.
5. Calculate the CFU value of the sample. Once you
count the colonies, multiply by the appropriate
dilution factor to determine the number of CFU/mL in
the original sample.
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Colony count

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