TOPIC: Principles of determination of DO and COD

Submitted by:-
Name: Chongtham Ranindra Singh

Department: Environmental Science

Semester: MSc 1st Semester

Roll No: 17 (Seventeen)

 Dissolved Oxygen

Defination:
Dissolved Oxygen is defined as the amount of gaseous oxygen (O2) dissolved in
the water, oxygen enters the water by direct absorption from the atmosphere, by rapid
movement, or as a waste product of plant photosynthesis. Water temperature and the
volume of moving water can affect dissolved oxygen levels. Oxygen dissolves easier in
cooler water than warmer water.
Applications:
Dissolved oxygen analysis can be used to determine:

 the health or cleanliness of a lake or stream,

 the amount and type of biomass a freshwater system can support,
 the amount of decomposition occurring in the lake or stream.

Importance of Dissolved Oxygen:

1) It is one of the most important indicators of water quality.
2) Natural stream purification processes require adequate oxygen levels in order
to provide for aerobic life forms.
3) Dissolved oxygen is absolutely essential for the survival of all aquatic
organisms (not only fish but also invertebrates such as crabs, clams.
Zooplanktons, etc)

Factors affecting concentration of Dissolved Oxygen:

The colder water can hold more Oxygen than the warm water. As the water becomes
warmer, less oxygen can be dissolved in the water. Salinity is also an important factor
in determining the amount of oxygen a body of water can hold; fresh water can absorb
more oxygen than salt water.
Oxygen levels may be reduced when there are too many bacteria or algae in water
which leads to an increase in Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD). After the algae
complete their life cycle and die, they are consumed by bacteria. During this decay
process the bacteria also consume the oxygen dissolved in the water. This can lead to
decreased levels of biologically available oxygen, in some cases leading to fish kills and
death to other aquatic organisms.
Adequate dissolved oxygen is important for good water quality and necessary to all
forms of life. Dissolved oxygen levels that drop below 5.0 mg/L cause stress to aquatic
life. Lower concentrations cause greater stress. Oxygen levels that go below 1-2 mg/L
for a few hours may result in large fish kills.
Dissolved oxygen concentrations can also be altered by physical, chemical, and
biological processes and reaction. Physical processes including wind mixing can
increase dissolved oxygen concentrations, particularly in surface waters of aquatic
ecosystems. Because dissolved oxygen solubility is linked to water temperatures,
changes in temperature affect dissolved oxygen concentrations; warmer water has a
lower capacity to "hold" oxygen as colder water.
Biologically, both photosynthesis and aerobic respiration affect dissolved oxygen
concentrations. Photosynthesis by autotrophic organisms, such as phytoplankton and
aquatic algae, increases dissolved oxygen concentrations while simultaneously
reducing carbon dioxide concentrations, since carbon dioxide is taken up during
photosynthesis. All aerobic organisms in the aquatic environment take up dissolved
oxygen during aerobic respiration, while carbon dioxide is released as a byproduct of
this reaction.
Vertical changes in the concentrations of dissolved oxygen are affected by both wind
mixing of surface waters and the balance between photosynthesis and respiration of
organic matter. These vertical changes, known as profiles, are based on similar
principles as thermal stratification and light penetration. As light availability decreases
deeper in the water column, photosynthesis rates also decrease, and less dissolved
oxygen is produced. This means that dissolved oxygen concentrations generally
decrease as you move deeper into the body of water because of photosynthesis is not
replenishing dissolved oxygen that is being taken up through respiration.
During periods of thermal stratification, water density gradients prevent oxygenrich
surface waters from mixing with deeper waters. Prolonged periods of stratification can
result in the depletion of bottom-water dissolved oxygen; when dissolved oxygen
concentrations are below 2 milligrams per liter, waters are considered hypoxic.[13]
When dissolved oxygen concentrations are approximately 0 milligrams per liter,
conditions are anoxic. Both hypoxic and anoxic waters reduce available habitat for
organisms that respire oxygen, and contribute to changes in other chemical reactions in
the water.

Human Activities Affecting DO:

1) Removal of riparian vegetation may lower oxygen concentrations due to increased
water temperature resulting from a lack of canopy shade and increased suspended
solids resulting from erosion of bare soil.
2) Typical urban human activities may lower oxygen concentrations.
3) Runoff from impervious surfaces bearing salts, sediments and other pollutants
increases the amount of suspended and dissolved solids in stream water.
4) Organic wastes and other nutrient inputs from sewage and industrial discharges,
septic tanks and agricultural and urban runoff can result in decreased oxygen levels.
5) Nutrient input often lead to excessive algal growth. When the algae die, the organic
matter is decomposed by bacteria.
6) Bacterial decomposition consumes a great deal of oxygen.
7) Dams may pose an oxygen supply problem when they release waters from the
bottom of their reservoirs into streams and rivers.
 How Dissolved Oxygen affects water supplies:

A high DO level in a community water supply is good because it makes drinking

water taste better. However, high DO levels speed up corrosion in water pipes. For this
reason, industries use water with the least possible amount of dissolved oxygen. Water
used in very pressure boilers have no more than 2.0 ppm of DO, but most boiler plant
operators try to keep oxygen levels to 0.007 ppm or less.

CONCLUSION:-

Last but not the least, Dissolved Oxygen in water is a very important parameter for
water testing. It is an index of physical and biological processes going on in water. Main
sources of oxygen in water are diffusion from air, liberation from plants during
photosynthesis. The concentration of dissolved oxygen in water can be measured
through Winkler’s method by the use of chemicals such as manganous sulphate,
alkaline iodide, starch and sodium thiosulphate solutions.

The Winkler Method uses titration to determine dissolved oxygen in the water sample. A
sample bottle is filled completely with water (no air is left to skew the results). The
dissolved oxygen in the sample is then "fixed" by adding a series of reagents that form
an acid compound that is then titrated with a neutralizing compound that results in a
color change. The point of color change is called the "endpoint," which coincides with
the dissolved oxygen concentration in the sample. Dissolved oxygen analysis is best
done in the field, as the sample will be less altered by atmospheric equilibration.

Reference:-

 The Skeptical environmentalist; measuring the real state of the world, Author: Bjorn Lomborg (Research Paper)
 Environmental Chemistry; Unit-2: Water Chemistry, Madam Dr. Kh. Usha Devi (Reference Text/Paper)
 Monica Z. Bruckner, Montana State University (Research Paper)
 Wikipedia, Google, etc