SAB 2912-Water Treatment

2.0 WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS

To illustrate the quality of a tested water QUALITATIVELY and

QUANTITATIVELY.

Can be divided into three types:

 Physical
 Chemical
 Biological

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W a t e r Q u a li t y P a r a m e t e r s

P h y s ic a l C h e m ic a l B i o lo g ic a l

S uspend ed O dour T otal A lk a lin it y

Pathogen I n d ic a t o r
S o l id & T aste D i s s o l v e d S o l id
O r g a n is m s O r g a n is m s
T em perature T u r b id it y H ardness O r g a n ic
C om pounds

I n o r g a n ic N u t r ie n t s
Com pounds

N it r o g e n Phosphorus

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2.1 Physical Parameters

a. Turbidity - measured in NTU/FTU

Source(s):
i. Inorganic compounds such as clay, sand
ii. Organic compounds such as plant fibre, human waste

Effect(s):
i. Aesthetic
ii. Adsorption point/centre for chemicals and micro-organisms
iii. Health aspect

b. Odour and Taste

Source(s):
i. Inorganic compounds such as minerals, metals, salts (all of them
give taste to water but no odour)
ii. Organic compounds from petroleum and/or degradation of organic
matters. (odour and taste)

Effect(s):
i. Aesthetic
ii. Health problems [reaction from sources and other chemicals such as
chlorine (Cl2)]

c. Temperature - measured in oC or oF

Source(s):
i. Effect from ambience
ii. Industrial activities - cooling system

Effect(s):
i. Disturb biological activities such as micro-organism and aquatic life
ii. Chemical properties such as the degree of gas solubility, density and
viscosity

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d. Suspended solid - measured in mg/L

Source(s):
i. Same as in (a)

Effect(s):
i. Same as in (a)

2.2 Chemical Parameters

a. Total dissolved solid (TDS)

- Solid left in water after the water is filtered and dried.

Source(s):
i. Inorganic compounds - minerals, metals & gases
ii. Organic compounds – product from degradation of organic matters,
organic gas

Effect(s):
i. Cause taste, colour and odour problems
ii. Health aspect
iii. Small amount of TDS – water becomes corrosive to attain
equilibrium

b. Organic compounds

Definition
All organic compounds contain carbon in combination with one or more elements.

Source(s):
i. Nature: fibres, vegetable oils, animal oils and fats, cellulose, starch,
sugar.
ii. Synthesis: a wide variety of compounds and materials prepared by
manufacturing processes. E.g. DDT, polyvinylchloride.
iii. Fermentation: Alcohols, acetone, glycerol, antibiotics, acids.

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Effect(s):
i. Depletion of the dissolved oxygen in the water
- Destroying aquatic life
- Damaging the ecosystem
ii. Some organics can caused cancer
- Trihalomethane (THM-carcinogenic compound) are produced in
water and wastewater treatment plants when natural organic
compounds combine with chlorine added for disinfection purposes.

c. Inorganic compounds

Definition
 When placed in water, inorganic compounds dissociate into electrically
charged atoms referred to as ions.
 All atoms linked in ionic bond.
 Can be classified into two:

i. Metal – Non toxic and toxic

Non-toxic – Ca2+, Mn2+, Na+, Fe2+, Mg2+, Al3+, Cu2+, Zn2+

 dangerous for health if the concentration is high

Source(s):
i. Mineral, readily available from nature

Effect(s):
i. Colour, odour, taste and turbidity
ii. Deteriorate health (at high concentration)

Toxic – As2+, Ba2+, Cd2+, Cr2+, Pb2+, Hg2+

 Stored up in food chain

Source(s):
i. Human activities such as mining and industries

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Effect(s):
Dangerous diseases such as cancer, abortion and deformation in new born
baby

ii. Non-metal – e.g. Si4+, Cl-, NO3-

Source(s):
i. Mineral

Effect(s):
i. Diseases
- heavy metal, NO2-  “blue baby syndrome”
ii. Aesthetic
- Si+4  turbidity
iii. Fluoride (F-)
a. Not good for health if it is taken in high concentration
b. Concentration of 1 mg/L is good for the growth of children teeth
c. Excessive concentration – colour on teeth and problem in bone
growth

d. Nutrients
- Crucial elements needed by animals and plants to live
- Important elements – C, N, P
- C – easily obtained from CO2, degradation of organic compounds
- N, P – limiting factors

Nitrogen (N)

Source(s):
i. Element for protein, chlorophyll and biological compounds
ii. Decomposition to a simple compound

Protein  Amino Acid  NH3 O  NO2- O  NO3-

2 2

iii. Animals and human wastes; chemicals (fertilisers)

Effect(s):
i. NO3- poisoning in human and animal babies (human babies below than 6
month old) “blue baby syndrome”
 NO3-  NO2- (in acidic condition) – will substitute O 2 in blood vessel
 Babies will breathe less oxygen and eventually die
ii. Excessive algae breeding and aquatic plants

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Phosphorus (P)
 Exists in a form of “orthophosphate”, “condensed phosphate”, and “organic
phosphate”.

Source(s):
i. Readily present in soil
ii. Fertilisers
iii. Human wastes (“organic phosphate”)
iv. Domestic wastes (element in detergent)

Effect(s):
i. Algae breeding and aquatic plants
ii. >0.2 mg/L – disturb coagulation process in water treatment plant

e. Alkalinity

Definition
The quantity of ions in water to neutralise acid or a measure of water strength to
neutralise acid.

Main constituents are bicarbonate (HCO3-), carbonate (CO32-), and hydroxide

(OH-) ions.

Source(s):
i. Mineral dissolved in water and air.
ii. Human activities such as detergent (in wastewater), fertilisers,
pesticide etc.

Effect(s):
i. Non pleasant taste
ii. Reaction between alkaline constituent and cation (positive ion)
produces precipitation in pipe.

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f. Hardness

Definition
A measure of “multivalent” cations in water such as Ca 2+, Mg2+, Fe2+, Mn3+.

Ca2+ and Mg2+ are very important

Source(s):
i. Natural mineral on earth

Effect(s):
i. Excessive soap usage (a waste!!)

Na2CO2C17H33 Cation2+(CO2C17H33)
+ 
Cation2+ 2Na+

ii. Precipitate form on hardware

iii. Precipitate in pipe - temperature and pH increased

Two kinds of hardness:

(1) Carbonate hardness
(2) Non-carbonate hardness

Carbonate Hardness Non-Carbonate Hardness

1. Temporary in character 1. Permanent in character
e.g. Ca(HCO3)2, Mg(HCO3)2 e.g. CaCl2, CaSO4, MgCl2, MgSO4

2. Precipitated through boiling 2. Eliminated through chemical softness

method and/or ion exchange

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Measurement of alkalinity and hardness

A. mg/L Unit

mg  substance
L  medium

mg
In water, = ppm
L

1 part 1 mg substance
ppm = = 10 6 mg water
10 6 part

We know that water density is   1000

kg 3
= 10 g = 10 6 mg
m 3
L L

¨10 6 mg of water  1 L of water

1 mg substance
1 ppm 
1L water

B. meq/L Unit

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meq = for measurement that involved in combination of several different

L
elements

meq mg 1
 concentration ( )
L L Equivalent mass

Where :
atomic or molecular mass (g)
Equivalent mass 
valence

Example 1 :

Equivalent Mass for Ca2+ = ????

Atomic mass for Ca2+ = 40 g
Valence = +2
 Valence  2
40
 Equivalent Mass for Ca2+ = 2
= 20

C. Hardness & Alkalinity Measurement Unit (mg/L as CaCO 3)

meq
mg/L as CaCO3 = L
 Equivalent mass for
CaCO3

Equivalent mass for CaCO3= Equivalent Mass of Ca2+ + Equivalent Mass of CO32-

60
Equivalent mass of CO32- = = 30
2

Equivalent mass for CaCO3 = 20 + 30 = 50

Example 2:

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Results from water analysis is as shown below:

Calcium = 29.0 mg/L;

Magnesium = 16.3 mg/L;
Sodium = 23.0 mg/L;
Potassium = 17.5 mg/L;
Bicarbonate (as HCO3-) = 171.4 mg/L;
Sulphate = 36.0 mg/L;
Chloride = 24.0 mg/L.

(1) Convert these concentrations from mg/L to meq/L,

(2) List down the hypothetical combination,
(3) Calculate the water hardness in term of mg/L as CaCO 3.

Solution:

(1)

Component mg/L Equivalent Mass meq/L

Ca2+ 29.0 20.0 1.45
Mg2+ 16.3 12.2 1.34
Na+ 23.0 23.0 1.00
K+ 17.5 39.1 0.45
Total cations 4.24
HCO3- 171.4 61.0 2.81
SO42- 36.0 48.0 0.75
Cl- 24.0 35.5 0.68
Total anions 4.24

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(2)
1.4 2.7 3.7 4.2
5 9 9 4
Ca2+ Mg 2+ Na+ K+

HCO3- SO42- Cl-

2.8 3.5 4.2

Hypothetical Combination: 1 6 4

Ca(HCO3)2 - 1.45 meq/L

Mg(HCO3)2 - 1.34 meq/L
NaHCO3 - 0.02 meq/L
Na2SO4 - 0.75 meq/L
NaCl - 0.23 meq/L
KCl - 0.45 meq/L

(3) Hardness (Ca2+ + Mg2+) = 2.79 meq/L

Mass Balance for CaCO3 = 50.0

 Hardness = 2.79 x 50.0 = 140 mg/L CaCO3

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2.3 Biological Parameters

 Micro-organisms that bring diseases are called “PATHOGEN”. Their quantities

are very small compared to other micro-organisms.

 The experiment to determine the presence of all pathogens takes a long time
and very expensive. It is only carried out for very specific cases.

 The presence of pathogenic micro-organisms is shown by indicator micro-

organisms.

Pathogen Organisms
o Live and breed in host and disseminated through faeces.
o Small in quantity
o Their presence is hard to detect

Indicator Organisms

Their presence shows that pollution has occurred and suggests the TYPE and
LEVEL of pollution.

Indicator organisms properties:

o Can be used for all type of waters
o Always present when pathogen is present
o Always absent when pathogen is absent
o Easily experimented and give reliable results
o Not pathogen micro-organisms

Typical indicators used are coliform groups

Coliforms groups: -
o Fecal coliforms e.g. E.Coli
o Total coliforms e.g. Fecal Coliforms, Soil Coliforms & any others

Determination experimental Methods:

1. Membrane Filtration Method
2. Most Probable Number (MPN)

Membrane Filtration Method

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- to determine the number of coliform organisms that are present in water

- advantage: faster than MPN procedure and gives a direct count of the
number
- can be determine by passing a known volume of water sample through a
membrane filter that has a very small pore size. The bacteria are retained
on the filter then contacted with an agar that contains nutrients necessary
for the growth of the bacteria. After incubation, the coliform colonies can be
counted and the concentration in the original water sample determined.
- General formula

colonies No.colonies counted x 100

=
100mL
Volume of sample

Example 1

Assume that filtration of volumes 75, 25, 10, 3 and 1 mL produced FC colony
counts of 210, 89, 35, 11 and 5, respectively. What is the FC density for the
sample?

Solution

Select the membrane filter with the number of colonies in the acceptable range.
The acceptable range for TC is 20-80 TC colonies and no more than 200 colonies
of all types per membrane. Sample quantities producing MF counts of 20-60
colonies of FC or FS are desired.

The MF with 35 FC colonies is the best MF for counting. Thus, the density is

35 X 100
FC/100 mL = = 350
10

Most Probable Number (MPN)

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- The equation proposed by Thomas can be used to estimate the MPN.

The Thomas equation:

Number of positive tubes x 100

MPN/100 mL =
√[(mL of sample in negative tubes) x (mL of samples in all tubes)]

- in practice, many analytical laboratories are using the MPN tables in

Standard Methods.

Example 2

A bacterial analysis for a surface water yielded the following results for the
standard confirmed test for total coliform. Determine the coliform density (MPN)
using the MPN tables and the Thomas equation.

Size of portion, Number Number

mL positive Negative
10.0 4 1
1.0 4 1
0.1 2 3

Solution:

From Table F-1,

Eliminating the portion with no positive tubes, the MPN/100 mL is 47

Using Thomas equation,

Number of positive tubes = 4 + 4 + 2 = 10
mL sample in negative tubes = (1x10) + (1x1.0) + (3x0.1) + (5x0.01) = 11.35
mL sample in all tubes = (5x10) + (5x1.0) + (5x0.1) + (5x0.01) = 55.55

10 x100
MPN/100 mL = = 40/100 mL
11 .35 x55.55

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Example 3

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Calculate the MPN value by the Thomas equation.

Sample Positive Five tubes, mL used Combination

1 0.1 0.01 0.001 Of positive
A-raw 5/5 5/5 3/5 1/5 5-3-1
B x 10-3 5/5 5/5 3/5 1/5 5-3-1
C 5/5 3/5 2/5 0/5 5-3-2
D 4/5 3/5 1/5 1/5 4-3-1
E 0/5 1/5 0/5 0/5 0-1-0

Solution

Sample A,
Step 1 Number of positive tubes =3+1=4
mL sample in negative tubes = 2 x 0.01 + 4 x 0.001 = 0.024
mL sample in all tubes = 5 x 0.01 + 5 x 0.001 = 0.055

The Thomas equation:

Number of positive tubes x 100

MPN/100 mL =
√[(mL of sample in negative tubes) x (mL of samples in all tubes)]

4 x100
=
0.024 x 0.055
= 11 000 (for 10, 1 and 0.1 mL)

Sample B,
As step 1, in addition multiply by 103

MPN/100 mL = 11 000 x 103

Sample C,

(3  2) x100
MPN/100 mL = = 1406 = 1400
0.23 x 0.55

Sample D,

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(4  3  1) x100
MPN/100 mL = = 305 = 310
1.24 x5.55

Sample E

100
MPN/100 mL = = 18
5.45 x5.55

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