Water Quality &

Treatment
CHAPTER_ONE
Water quality pollution and analysis

Instructor: Abdu.B
Summer IV, 2013E.C
Water pollution

 Water pollution change in water quality that

can harm organisms or make water unfit for
human uses
 Anything that adversely affects water and
makes it;
unsafe for domestic purposes
unsafe for irrigation purposes
unsafe for husbandry
Sources of Water Pollution
 Factors that contribute to water pollution can
be categorized into two different groups
 Point sources
 Non-point sources
 Point sources
◦ Located at specific places
◦ Easy to identify, monitor, and regulate
◦ Examples; Industrial facilities, waste from garage
 Nonpoint sources
 Broad, diffuse areas
 Difficult to identify and control
 Expensive to clean up
 Examples; Agricultural activities, mining
Sources of Water Pollution Cont’d…

 Some point sources of water pollution include

-Factories
– Sewage system
– Power plants
– Underground coalmines
– Oil wells
 Are direct sources of water pollution and can

be reduced and monitored

Sources of Water Pollution Cont’d…
Sources of Water Pollution Cont’d…

Non-point
 Sources
The term non-point source

encompasses a large range of sources

such as:
when rain or snow moves through the
ground and picks up pollutants as it
moves towards a major body of water
the runoff of fertilizers from farm
animals and crop land
storm water drainage from lawns,
parking lots, and streets
Sources of Water Pollution Cont’d…
Introduction to Water Quality
 Water Quality refers to the chemical, physical
and biological characteristics of water.
 It is a measure of the condition of water

relative to the requirements of one or more

biotic species and or to any human need or
purpose
WATER QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS

Physical Characteristics
Physical characteristics include;
 Solids
 Odor
 Temperature
 Foam
 Turbidity
 Color taste
Physical Characteristics Cont’d…
1. Color
 Color is caused by materials in solution or

colloidal conditions
 Colored water is not only undesirable

because of consumer objections to its

appearance
2.Turbidity
 Turbidity represents lack of clearness in

water (measure of interference presented by

suspended matter to passage of light).
Physical Characteristics Cont’d…
Turbidity is due to;
 clay, silt, finely divided organic matter,

microorganisms
 Turbidly is measured by comparing the

sample with a standard solution by optical

means
 Unit for measurement is NTU (Nephelometry

turbidity unit)
Physical Characteristics Cont’d…

3. Temperature
 Temperature increase may affect the

portability of water
 Temperature above 150c is objectionable to

drinking water
 It Influences rates of chemical and biological

activities
 It also has pronounced effect on the solubility

of gases in water
Physical Characteristics Cont’d…

4. Taste And Odor

 Odors are caused by volatile substances

associated with:
 organic matter (decaying)
 living organisms (algae)
 gases (hydrogen sulfide, chlorine)
 Tastes are caused by:
 chlorides and sulfates of calcium,
magnesium and sodium
 organisms (algae)
 industrial wastes
Physical Characteristics Cont’d…
5. Foam
 Foam form various industrial waste

contributions and detergents is primarily

objectionable from the aesthetic standpoint
6. Solids
 Solids may be present in suspended and /or

in solution and may be divided in to organic

and inorganic matter
Physical Characteristics Cont’d…
 Suspended solids (SS) are discrete particles
which can measured by filtering a sample
through a fine paper
 where as dissolved solids (DS) are due to

soluble materials measured by evaporating a

filtered sample of water and weighting the
residue
 Total solids (TS) = SS+DS
Chemical Characteristics
1. Dissolved Oxygen (DO)
 Is Oxygen-content of water
 Biological decomposition of organic matter

uses up the dissolved oxygen

 Water deficient in DO is likely to be polluted

with organic matter

 Lack of DO affects fish and aquatic life
 It is the measure of progress of self-

purification in rivers
Chemical Characteristics Cont’d…
2. Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
 BOD is a measure of the DO required for the

utilization of organic matter as food by the

aerobic microorganisms
 BOD is measured by DO determination before

and after an incubation period of 5 days at

20oC
 BOD is an indirect measure of the amount of

readily biodegradable organic matter

 It is a measure of the strength of wastewater
Chemical Characteristics Cont’d…

Significance BOD
 Pollution strength of domestic and industrial

wastewaters
 Evaluation of self-purification capacity of

receiving waters
 Assessing efficiency of wastewater treatment

processes
Chemical Characteristics Cont’d…
3. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)
 COD is obtained by oxidizing the waste with boiling

acid dichromate solution

 In a COD test, 95% of organic matter is oxidized,

and
 results are available within 3 hours.

 Significance COD
 COD test provides no information on the proportion

of waste that can be oxidized by microorganism.

 It does not distinguish between stable and unstable

organic matter.
 It is very useful for industrial wastewaters
Chemical Characteristics Cont’d…
4. PH
 pH is a measure of the concentration of free

hydrogen ion in water

 It expresses the moral concentration of the

hydrogen ion as its negative logarithm

 Water and other chemicals in solution therein,

will ionize to a greater or lesser degree

 Pure water is only weakly ionized
Chemical Characteristics Cont’d…

 Increasing acidity leads to higher values of (H),

thus to lower values of pH
 Low pH is associated with high acidity, high pH

with caustic alkalinity

 pH = 7: Neutral
 pH < 7: Acidic
 pH > 7: Alkaline
 pH of most raw water sources: 6.5 - 8.5

 Significance
 Influences chemical reactions (in coagulation,

softening, disinfection, etc.)

 Corrosion problems (low pH)
Chemical Characteristics Cont’d…
5. Hardness
 Common in groundwater
 Water is hard when it does not readily form

lather with soap.

 Hardness in water is due to:

 calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg)

 Carbonate hardness: due to carbonates
and bicarbonates of Ca and Mg
 Non-carbonate hardness: due to
chlorides and sulpfates of Ca and Mg
Chemical Characteristics Cont’d…

Significance:
 scale build-up in boilers and hot water

systems
 excessive soap usage
 fuel wastage
 poor cleaning of clothes and reduced fabric

life
 health effects: minor: laxative effects.
Chemical Characteristics Cont’d…
 The hardness compounds are temporary and
permanent
 Temporary hardness (carbonate hardness)
 Calcium bicarbonate (Ca (HCO3)2)
 Magnesium bicarbonate (Mg(HCO3)2)

 Permanent hardness’ (non- carbonate

hardness)
 calcium sulfate (CaSO4)
 Magnesium chloride (MgSo4)

 calcium chloride (CaCl2)

 Magnesium chloride (Mg cl2)
Biological Characteristics
 A feature of most natural water is that they
contain a wide variety of micro – organisms
forming a balance ecological system
 Micro biological indicators of water quality or

pollution are therefore of particular concern

because of their relationships s to human and
animal health
 Water polluted by pathogenic micro-

organisms may penetrate into private and or

public water supplies either before or after
treatment
Biological Characteristics Cont’d…
1. Bacterium
 Many are found in water and some bacteria are

indicator of pollution but are harmless

 Other few in number are pathogenic Bacterial –

born diseases include: typhoid fever, cholera, and

bacterial dysentery
2. Viruses
 These are group of infectious which are smaller

that ordinary bacteria and that require susceptible

host cells for multiplication and activity.
 Viral-born diseases include infectious hepatitis

and poliomyelitis
Biological Characteristics Cont’d…
3. Algae
 These are small, Chlorophyll bearing

generally one–celled plants of varying shapes

and sizes which live in water
 When present in large numbers they may

cause turbidity in water and an apparent

color
 They cause trouble in water works by undue

clogging of filters, but their most

troublesome characteristics in the taste and
odor that they may cause
Biological Characteristics Cont’d…
4. Protozoa
 They are the lowest and simplest forms of

animal life
 Protozoa–born diseases include giardiasis

and amebic dysentery

5. Fungi
 These are non –chlorophyll bearing plants

and they may therefore grow in the absence

of light.
 Large numbers die and the decomposition of

their will cause disagreeable tastes and odors

Drinking Water Standards
 Defined as water quality parameters
established for public water supplies
by regulatory authorities to define the
limiting concentrations of various
constituents
 Limiting concentrations are those that
can be tolerated for the intended use
 Revised periodically
Drinking Water Standards Cont’d…
 Standards Classifications
 Primary Standards; are health related and

enforceable which includes such parameters

as:
Coliforms, turbidity, toxic inorganic and organic
chemicals, and radionuclides
 Secondary Standards; are non-health related
used for aesthetic purposes which includes:
Color, odor, chloride ion, sulfate ion, dissolved
solids, manganese, pH, copper, and zinc.
Basic quality requirements of drinking water
 Free from diseases causing pathogenic
organisms
 Contain no compounds that have adverse

effect on human health

 Fairly clear (i.e., of low turbidity, little color)
 Contain no compounds that cause offensive

taste and odor

 Free of substances and organisms that cause

corrosion or encrustation of the water supply

system, staining of clothes washed in it or
food items cooked with it
You Never Hesitate!!

Thank You!