COLLEGE OF

Engineering

DEPARTMENT OF
Civil and Environmental
Engineering

• CENG241
Environmental Engineering and Science
• Hamdan Hamdan
• hamdan.hamdan@pu.edu.lb

• Lecture 3: Water Quality and Pollution

 Water Quality and
Public Health
• Safe, high-quality drinking water
• essential aspect of public health

• Chlorination of water
• One of the most significant measures to protect the health of
the public
• drastic reductions in waterborne infections (e.g., cholera and
typhoid)

• average requirement for human consumption of water per day is

approximately 2.5 liters
• maintain health
• includes water from food sources

• developing world
• unsanitary water supplies: spread of gastrointestinal illnesses
and infectious diseases: morbidity and mortality

• Hydrological poverty
• situation in which an area is facing water poverty (not
enough water to sustain the livelihood)
 Most of the water in the biosphere is
seawater

Sources of Fresh Water: Rivers, Inland seas,

Lakes and ponds, Wetlands, Groundwater

Water unevenly • Oceans contain 97%.

• Polar ice caps and glaciers contain 2%.
distributed among • Freshwater in lakes, streams, and ground water make up less
aquatic environments: than 1%.

• comes from surface freshwater: lakes, rivers, aquifers, etc.

1% of readily
• These readily accessible sources constitute the water supply
accessible water that is renewed by the hydrological cycle.
 • defined as the dynamic exchange of water among reservoirs

Water Cycle • Hydrologic cycle powered by solar energy:

• Solar energy evaporates water, primarily from surface of

(hydrologic cycle) oceans and drives the winds

• Most of freshwater from precipitation is lost
• 2/3 of the surface runoff lost by seasonal floods
• 1/3 of the surface runoff usable
Water
supply,
treatment
and
distribution

• two main sources of drinking water used by the human

population
• surface water: rivers and lakes
• Groundwater: stored naturally in underground aquifers
 Modern water distribution
systems

The basic function of these

water utilities

• obtain water from a source

storage
• treat the water to an acceptable
quality
• deliver the desired quantity of water
to the appropriate place at the
appropriate time.
Water Rapid population growth
• demand for freshwater
Scarcity and • number of countries that will experience water
Water Stress scarcity is expected to increase

It is a relative concept
• can occur at any level of supply or demand.

Water scarcity
• when annual supply of renewable freshwater is
less than 1,000 cubic meters per person
• Occurs even in areas where there is plenty of
rainfall or fresh water

Water stress
• when annual supply of renewable freshwater is
between 1,000 and 1,700 cubic meters per
person
 Water Scarcity

• Physical water scarcity vs economic water scarcity

• 1/4 of global population lives in developing countries
that face water shortages because of lack of
infrastructure to fetch water from rivers and aquifers
(Economic waste scarcity).

• Causes of water scarcity

• Imbalances between availability and demand
• Degradation of groundwater and surface water quality
• Interregional and international conflicts
• Dry climate, Drought, Urbanization, Too many people
using a normally reliable supply of water, Wasteful use of
water, Hydrological poverty
Effects of Water
Scarcity
• Rely on unsafe sources of drinking water

• Poor sanitation

• Poor water quality may increase the risk of water-

borne infections
• cholera, typhoid fever, trachoma (eye infection
that may lead to blindness), plague and typhus.

• Encourages people to store water in their homes

• may increase risk of household water
contamination
• May provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes:
vectors many diseases.

• Use of wastewater for agricultural production in

poor urban and rural communities

• More than 10% of people worldwide consume

foods irrigated by wastewater that contain
chemicals and/or disease-causing organisms!!
 Point Sources and non-point of
pollution
• Point sources
• Located at specific places (single sources)
• Easy to identify, monitor, and regulate
• occur when the polluting substance is emitted directly into the
waterway
• Ex. Domestic sewage and industrial wastes because they are
generally collected by a network of pipes or channels and conveyed
to a single point of discharge into the receiving water.

• Nonpoint sources
• Broad, diffuse areas: Difficult to identify and control
• as water moves across the land or through the ground, it picks up
natural and human-made pollutants
• Pollutants can be deposited in water bodies at multiple discharge
points
• Ex: fertilizers and pesticides from fields are carried into a stream by
surface runoff.
 Point
Source

Nonpoint Sediment
from Unprotected
Farmland Flows into
Streams
Major Water Pollutants and Their Sources
WATER QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS

Physical Chemical

Microbiological Radioactive
 Physical Water Quality Characteristics

Turbidity
• suspended material: clay, silt, organic material, etc.
• Turbidity in drinking water may not affect health, usually
objectionable for aesthetic reasons

Color
• aesthetic concerns
• color can indicate the presence of organic substances and presence
of potentially hazardous or toxic organic materials.

Taste and odor

• Drinking water should be free from any objectionable taste or odor
at point of use

temperature
• temperature of water in streams and rivers
• Increases in water temperature can have beneficial or adverse
effects in a receiving water body
• Ex: impact on production of clams and oysters. Ex. heated water
from a power plant can block salmon migration
 • Inorganic and Organic Substances
• Detergents
Chemical Water • Insecticides and herbicides
Quality • Petroleum hydrocarbons

Characteristics • Anthropogenic
• originating from human activity.

• Naturally occurring pollution

• from aquatic animals and plants that
inhabit water bodies: produce wastes
that contaminate the water
• Soils harbors microorganisms
• Decaying tree leaves and branches
contribute organic materials
• Natural rock and soil: many chemicals
and metals: Ex. Arsenic poisoning case
study in Bangladesh
Chemicals in the Water Supply
• Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs)
– washed off or excreted from the body
– Analgesics and contraceptive agents
(hormonally active)

• Water Disinfection By-Products (DBPs)

– Disinfection of water with chlorine produces
by-products called DBPs.
– cancer and adverse reproductive outcomes

• Solvent-Contaminated Drinking Water

– Industrial chemicals may infiltrate the
underground aquifers used for public water
supplies
– Ex. leaking underground solvent tank
Microbiological Water Quality Characteristics
Microbiological

Protozoans Cryptosporidium
Bacteria Salmonella

Viruses Hepatitis A &E Viruses

Helminthes Guinea worm

 Radioactive Water Quality Characteristics

• Water with high radioactivity

• areas where nuclear
industries are situated.
• mining of radioactive
materials
• naturally occurring
radioactive materials
Standards VS. Guidelines

Guideline: A
recommended
contaminant limit to
support and maintain
a designated water
use

Standard: A mandatory
contaminant limit that
must not be exceeded
(often reflects legal duty
or obligation)
 Bacteria
Transmitted by
Fecal- Oral Route
• Salmonella spp.
• Typhoid fever
• Shigella spp.
• Dysentery
• Very unstable in nature →if present,
recent pollution
• pathogenic Escherichia coli
• Different from normal
intestinal flora
• Gastroenteritis
• Vibrio cholera
• Cholera
 Algae And Cyanobacteria
Eutrophication: is when a body of water becomes overly enriched with minerals and nutrients which induce
excessive growth of algae.
An algal bloom or algae bloom: is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater
or marine water systems, and is often recognized by the discoloration in the water from their pigments.

Algae: Cyanobacteria:
eukaryotes prokaryotes

Doubling time:
7 to 25 hours
Florida red tide
A Red Tide
(a common name for algal
blooms)
 Categories of Water-Associated
Infectious Diseases
Transmission mechanism Description Examples of Diseases
Oral ingestion of pathogens
Cholera, typhoid, bacillary
Waterborne in water contaminated with
dysentery, infectious hepatitis
urine or feces
Disease spread enhanced by
Trachoma, scabies, dysentery,
Water-washed scarcity of water making
louse borne fever
cleanliness difficult
Water provides the habitat
for intermediate host
Schistosomiasis (bilharziasis),
Water-based organisms, transmission to
Dracunculiasis (guinea worm)
humans through water
contact
Insect vectors rely on water Malaria, yellow fever,
Water-related for habitat, but human water onchocerciasis(river blindness),
contact is not needed dengue

Opportunistic
pathogens
 Extent of a Disease
Epidemic: Pandemic:
incidence is high transmission
across continents

Endemic:
incidence is low

Sporadic:
Nosocomial:
disease which occurs
Hospital-acquired
occasionally in a
region
 Water quality considerations
• pH
• effects on water treatment- process performance.
• Alkalinity
• acid-neutralizing capacity of a solution
• important factor in coagulation
• Hardness
• mineral content (mainly Ca and Mg)
• scaling and clogging of pipes and equipment
• Turbidity
• measure of the particulate matter in the water
• Natural organic matter
• concern for disinfection by-product formation
• Total dissolved solids (TDS).
• Salt content
 Water Quality Indicators
Testing water for each of the possible
pathogens
• including viruses, protozoans, etc. is impractical.

properties of the ideal fecal indicator

bacterium:
• suitable for all categories of water
• present in wastewaters and polluted waters whenever
pathogens are present
• present in greater numbers than pathogens
• having similar survival characteristics as pathogens in
waters and water and wastewater treatment processes
• unable to multiply in waters
• Not necessarily pathogenic
• able to be detected in low numbers reliably, rapidly and
at low cost.

coliform bacterial group

• is the most common water quality indicator in the world

• Fecal coliforms and Total coliforms
The Water Budget

ΔS = Inflows – Outflows
 Water Budget for a Hydrologic Subsystem

ΔS = Inflows – Outflows
QS=QP +QQin +QIin -QQout -QIout-QR -QE -QT
QP= precipitation
QQ= river flow (in and out)
QI= groundwater infiltration/exfiltration (in and out)
QR= runoff
QE= evaporation
QT= transpiration
Examples of annual water budget of some hydrologic regions
Annual water budget of Switzerland (Musy, 2001)

Precipitation 1546 mm / year

Total Runoff 978 mm / year 1296 mm / year
runoff Influx into
318 mm / year
Switzerland
evaporation 484 mm / year

Annual water budget of Romania (National Institute

of Meteorology and Hydrology, Regional Office, Timisoara)

Precipitation 850 mm / year

Runoff 300 mm / year
evaporation 550 mm / year

Annual water budget of Bulgaria (Geography of

Bulgaria, monograph, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences , 1989)

Precipitation 690 mm / year

Runoff 176 mm / year
evaporation 514 mm / year

Annual water budget of Ukraine

Precipitation 625 mm / year

Runoff 86.8 mm / year
evaporation 538 mm / year
 Annual Water Budget of the Earth

P= precipitation
Gin/Gout = groundwater infiltration/exfiltration
R= runoff
E= evaporation
T= transpiration
 Dissolved Oxygen
Abbreviated DO
Is dissolved molecular oxygen (O2)

Water Quality as Measured by Dissolved

Oxygen Content in Parts per Million
 Importance of
Dissolved Oxygen

Higher forms of
aquatic life must
have DO to
live
 • Oxygen demanding material
• Nutrients

Water Pollutants • Pathogens

• Suspended solids
• Ammonia
 Oxygen Demanding Material

• Anything that can be oxidized with consumption of dissolved

molecular oxygen is termed oxygen-demanding material.
• This material is usually biodegradable organic matter
• also includes certain inorganic compounds
• consumption of dissolved oxygen, DO
• threat to fish and other higher life forms of aquatic life
that must have oxygen to live.
• critical level of DO varies greatly among species
• brook trout may require about 7.5 mg/L of DO
• carp may survive at 3 mg/L
• Oxygen-demanding materials in domestic sewage
• primarily from human waste and food residue.
• Almost any naturally occurring organic matter
• such as animal droppings, crop residues, or leaves, that
get into the water from non-point sources
• contribute to the depletion of DO.
 Oxygen
Demanding
Material

• Biochemical Oxygen Demand

•(BOD)

• Chemical Oxygen Demand

•(COD)
 DEFINITION OF BOD
Amount of oxygen consumed by microorganisms as they consume
biodegradable organic matter.
BOD requires microorganisms that consume oxygen in the process of
degrading organic matter.
DEFINITION OF COD

• Amount of dichromate
consumed in the
oxidation of inorganic
and organic matter.
COD is a chemical oxidation. No microorganisms.
 Nutrients

• Nitrogen and phosphorus

• two nutrients of primary concern
• are considered pollutants because they are too much
of a good thing.
• All living things require these nutrients for growth
• in rivers and lakes: they support natural food chains
• when nutrient levels become excessive
• food web is grossly disturbed
• causes some organisms to proliferate at the expense
of others
• large growths of algae, which in turn become oxygen-
demanding material when they die and settle to the
bottom.
• Some major sources of nutrients
• phosphorus-based detergents
• Fertilizers
• food-processing wastes
 Adverse Effects of NH3

• Toxic to fish
• Adds oxygen demand
• Nutrient for algal growth
• ammonia released from organic compounds and other sources
such as industrial wastes and agricultural runoff (Ex. fertilizers)
• oxidized to nitrate by nitrifying bacteria as a source of
energy
• process called nitrification (process consumes oxygen)
BOD
• amount of oxygen required to oxidize a
substance to carbon dioxide and water
can be calculated by stoichiometry if
the chemical composition of the
substance is known
• theoretical oxygen demand (ThOD).
• BOD test: an indirect measurement of
organic matter
• because we measure only the
change in dissolved oxygen
concentration caused by the
microorganisms as they degrade the
organic matter.
 BOD

• When a water sample containing degradable organic

matter is placed in a closed container and inoculated
with bacteria,
• oxygen consumption typically follows pattern
Figure 5-2
• first few days
• rate of oxygen depletion is rapid because of the
high concentration of organic matter present.
• As the concentration of organic matter decreases
• so does the rate of oxygen consumption
• During last part of BOD curve
• oxygen consumption is mostly associated with
decay of the bacteria that grew during the early
part of the test.
• generally assumed
• rate at which oxygen is consumed is directly
proportional to the concentration of degradable
organic matter remaining at any time.
 BOD
• BOD curve in Figure 5-2
• can be described
mathematically as a
first-order reaction.
BOD
BOD rate equation: BODt = L0 (1- e-kt )
 Factors Which
Affect k
• Nature of Waste
• Simpler organic compounds have
larger k and thus degrade faster
• Ability of Organisms to use Waste
• many organic compounds can be
degraded by only a small group of
microorganisms.
• Sometimes inoculation is needed
to test for BOD
• Temperature
• rate of utilization is affected by
temperature
 Temperature
Correction
• Laboratory testing is done at a
standard temperature of 20 C
• BOD rate constant is
adjusted to receiving-water
temperature using the
following expression
 • Prepare Dilution of Wastewater Sample
Laboratory • Prepare a Blank
measurement • Incubate Sample and Blank 5 d @ 20 º C
of BOD • Measure DO Remaining & Calculate BOD
 • ultimate BOD is a better indicator of
Additional Notes total waste strength compared to BOD5
on Biochemical • different types of wastes having the
same BOD5: ultimate BOD is the
Oxygen Demand same only if, by chance, the BOD
rate constants are the same.
Nitrogen Oxidation
• BOD5 test:
• Assumptions is that only the carbon in the organic compounds is oxidized
• CBOD:
• carbonaceous BOD
• BOD consumed to oxidize carbon
• many organic compounds, such as proteins
• contain nitrogen that can be oxidized with the consumption of molecular
oxygen
• NBOD: Ammonia/ammonium oxidized to NO3-: nitrification
 NBOD

• rate at which the NBOD is exerted depends heavily on the

number of nitrifying organisms present
• untreated sewage: few of these organisms
• well-treated effluent: concentration is high
• untreated sewage
• NBOD is exerted after much of the CBOD has been
exerted
• lag is due to the time it takes for the nitrifying
bacteria to reach a sufficient population for the
amount of NBOD exertion to be significant
compared with that of the CBOD
• treated sewage
• a higher population of nitrifying organisms in the
sample reduces the lag time.
• Once nitrification begins
• NBOD can be described by same equations
describing BOD
• BOD = Lo(1 – e-kt)
DO SAG
CURVE
 DO Sag Curve
• dissolved oxygen
• general health indicator of a river
• rivers have some capacity for self-purification
• As long as discharge of oxygen-demanding wastes is within self-
purification capacity, DO will remain high
• As the amount of waste increases
• self-purification capacity can be exceeded causing changes in plant
and animal life
• stream loses ability to cleanse itself and DO decreases
• DO below 4 to 5 mg/L: most fish will be driven out
• DO is completely removed:
• fish and other animals are killed or driven out and extremely
noxious conditions result: water becomes blackish and foul
smelling
• sewage and dead animal life decompose under anaerobic
conditions
• Assessing capability of a stream to absorb a waste load
• done by determining profile of DO downstream from a waste
discharge: profile is called DO sag curve
• DO dips as oxygen-demanding materials are oxidized and then
rises again as the oxygen is replenished from atmosphere.
DO Sag Curve
• To develop a mathematical expression for DO sag curve
• sources of oxygen and factors affecting oxygen depletion must be
identified and quantified.
• The only significant sources of oxygen
• reaeration from atmosphere and photosynthesis of aquatic plants
• Oxygen depletion caused by range of factors
• most important: BOD (both carbonaceous and nitrogenous) of waste
• BOD already in the river upstream of waste discharge
• DO in waste discharge is usually less than that in river
• Hence DO at river is lowered as soon as the waste is added, even before
any BOD is exerted.
• Other factors affecting DO depletion
• nonpoint source pollution, respiration of organisms in
sediments and of aquatic plants
• classical approach: DO sag equation
(also known as the Streeter-Phelps equation)
• developed by considering only initial DO reduction,
carbonaceous BOD, and reaeration from the atmosphere
(Streeter-Phelps, 1925)
• equation can be expanded to include nitrogenous BOD, and even some
other factors if needed
Typical DO sag curve
Oxygen Sag downstream of an organic
source
Dilution and Decay of Degradable, Oxygen-Demanding
Wastes in a Stream
Can we model the DO sag?
 Mass-Balance
Approach
• Simplified mass balances
• help us understand and solve the DO sag
curve problem
• Three conservative (without chemical
reaction) mass balances may be used to
account for initial mixing of the waste stream
and the river: all change as the result of mixing
of the waste stream and the river.
• DO
• carbonaceous BOD
• temperature
• Once these are accounted for
• DO sag curve may be viewed as a
nonconservative mass balance
 The town of State College discharges 17,360
m3/d of treated wastewater into the Bald
Eagle Creek.
The treated wastewater has a BOD5 of 12
mg/L and a k of 0.12/d at 20 C.

Bald Eagle Creek has a flow rate of 0.43

Example 5-8 m3/s and an ultimate BOD of 5.0 mg/L.

The DO of the river is 6.5 mg/L and the DO

of the wastewater is 1.0 mg/L.

Compute the DO and initial ultimate BOD

after mixing.
For temperature: Heat Balance
 Oxygen
Deficit
• DO sag equation has been developed using oxygen deficit rather than dissolved oxygen concentration
• to make it easier to solve the integral equation that results from the mathematical description of
the mass balance.
• oxygen deficit is the amount by which the actual dissolved oxygen concentration is less than
the saturation value with respect to oxygen in the air:
• D = DOs – DO
• D: oxygen deficit, mg/L
• DOs: saturation concentration of DO at T of river after mixing, mg/L
• DO: actual concentration of DO, mg/L
• The saturation value of DO heavily dependent on water T
• decreases as T increases
• Initial Deficit.
• beginning of DO sag curve is at the point where a waste discharge mixes with the river.
• The initial deficit is calculated as the difference between saturated DO and concentration of
DO after mixing (Equation 5-25):
 STREETER- PHELPS
MODEL
• A mass balance diagram of DO in a
small reach (stretch) of river is shown
in Figure 5-11a.
• This is a comprehensive mass
balance that accounts for all of
the inputs and outputs.
• We are going to limit our development
to the classical Streeter-Phelps model.
• The simplified mass balance
diagram is shown in Figure 5-11b.
• The mass balance equation is then:
 • The rate at which DO disappears from the stream as a result
STREETER- of microbial action (M) is exactly equal to rate of increase
in the deficit.
PHELPS • With the assumption that the saturation value for DO
MODEL remains constant [d(DOs)/dt=0], differentiation of
Equation 5-31 yields:
Deoxygenation
Rate Constant

• The deoxygenation rate constant differs from the BOD

rate constant because there are physical and biological
differences between a river and a BOD bottle.
• In general, BOD is exerted more rapidly in a
river because of turbulent mixing, larger
numbers of “seed” organisms, and BOD removal
by organisms on the stream bed as well as by those
suspended in the water.
• k rarely has a value greater than 0.7/day
• kd may be as large as 7/day for shallow, rapidly
flowing streams.
• for deep, slowly moving rivers, kd is very close to k.
• method of estimating kd from k using characteristics of
the stream (Bosko, 1966):
Example 5-10
• Determine the deoxygenation rate constant for the reach of Bald Eagle Creek
(Examples 5-8 and 5-9) below the wastewater outfall (discharge pipe).
• The average speed of the stream flow in the creek is 0.03 m/s.
• The depth is 5.0 m and the bed-activity coefficient is 0.35.
• Ex. 5-8:
• The town of State College discharges 17,360 m3/d of treated wastewater into the Bald
Eagle Creek. The treated wastewater has a BOD5 of 12 mg/L and a k of 0.12/d at 20
C. Bald Eagle Creek has a flow rate of 0.43 m3/s and an ultimate BOD of 5.0 mg/L.
The DO of the river is 6.5 mg/L and the DO of the wastewater is 1.0 mg/L. Compute
the DO and initial ultimate BOD after mixing.
• Ex. 5-9
• Calculate the initial deficit of the Bald Eagle Creek after mixing with the wastewater
from the town of State College (see Example 5-8 for data). The stream temperature is
10 C and the wastewater temperature is 10 C.
Reaeration Rate
• O’Connor and Dobbins (1958)
• generalized empirical equation to estimate reaeration constant based on
characteristics of stream and diffusion of oxygen into water: kr
• kr depends on degree of turbulent mixing
• related to stream velocity and amount of water surface exposed to
atmosphere compared to volume of water in the river
CONVERTING kr OR Kr TO
STREAM TEMPERATURE
Kt = K20  T-20
temperature coefficient  = 1.024
 Reminder

Qw Lw + Qr Lr
L=  Qw DOw + Qr DOr 
Da = DOs −  
Qw + Qr  Qw + Qr 
 Time to
Critical Point
• it is physically impossible for the DO to
be less than zero.
• If deficit calculated from Equation 5-41
is greater than saturation DO, then all
the oxygen was depleted at some earlier
time and the DO is zero.
• If result of calculations yields a negative
DO, report it as zero because it cannot be
less than zero!
• The lowest point on the DO sag curve,
which is called the critical point, is of
major interest since it indicates the worst
conditions in the river.
• The time to the critical point (tc) can be
found by differentiating Equation 5-41,
setting it equal to zero, and solving for t
using base e values for kr and kd
Example 5-11
• Determine the DO concentration at a point 5 km downstream from
the State College discharge into the Bald Eagle Creek (Examples 5-8, 5-
9, 5-10). Also determine the critical DO and the distance downstream at
which it occurs.
• Example 5-8: The town of State College discharges 17,360 m3/d of treated wastewater into
the Bald Eagle Creek. The treated wastewater has a BOD5 of 12 mg/L and a k of 0.12 d1 at
20C. Bald Eagle Creek has a flow rate of 0.43 m3/s and an ultimate BOD of 5.0 mg/L. The
DO of the river is 6.5 mg/L and the DO of the wastewater is 1.0 mg/L. Compute the DO
and initial ultimate BOD after mixing.
• Example 5-9: Calculate the initial deficit of the Bald Eagle Creek after mixing with the
wastewater from the town of State College (see Example 5-8 for data). The stream
temperature is 10C and the wastewater temperature is 10C.
• Example 5-10: Determine the deoxygenation rate constant for the reach of Bald Eagle
Creek (Examples 5-8 and 5-9) below the wastewater outfall (discharge pipe). The average
speed of the stream flow in the creek is 0.03 m/s. The depth is 5.0 m and the bed-activity
coefficient is 0.35.
 Limnology

• Oxygen-demanding wastes can also be important

lake pollutants
• especially when the waste is discharged to a
contained area such as a bay
• Pathogens are of particular concern near
bathing beaches.
• there are special classes of lakes which are most
seriously affected by other pollutants such as
toxic chemicals from industrial discharges.
• phosphorus so dominates other pollutants
in controlling water quality in most of lakes
• knowledge of lake systems is essential to an
understanding of the role of phosphorus in lake
pollution.
• The study of lakes is called limnology.
 Stratification of lakes

• During summer
• surface water of a lake is heated
• Warm water (less dense than cool water),
remains near surface until mixed downward by
turbulence from wind, waves, boats, and other
forces.
• turbulence extends only a limited distance
below surface
• result is an upper layer of well-mixed, warm
water (epilimnion) floating on lower water
(hypolimnion), which is poorly mixed and cool
• good mixing the epilimnion
• It will be aerobic (have DO).
• The hypolimnion will have a lower DO
• may become anaerobic (devoid of oxygen).
 Stratification of lakes

• boundary is called thermocline

• sharp temperature change (and therefore
density change) that occurs within a relatively
short distance.
• defined as a change in temperature with depth
that is greater than 1 C/m.
• Once formed, lake stratification is very stable
• In fall, as temperatures drop, the epilimnion
cools until it is denser than hypolimnion
• surface water sinks, causing overturning.
• water of hypolimnion rises to surface where it
cools and again sinks.
• lake thus becomes completely mixed.
• Further cooling or freezing of surface water
results in winter stratification
• As water warms in spring, it again overturns and
becomes completely mixed
Stratification of a lake
a.Summer
b.winter
 Biological Zones
• Lakes contain several distinct zones of biological activity
• largely determined by availability of light and oxygen.
• most important biological zones
• euphotic, littoral, and benthic zones.
• Euphotic Zone.
• upper layer of water through which sunlight can penetrate: All plant
growth occurs in this zone.
• In deep water, algae are most important plants, while rooted plants
grow in shallow water near shore.
• depth of euphotic zone is determined by amount of turbidity
blocking sunlight penetration
• plants produce more oxygen by photosynthesis than they remove
by respiration
• Littoral Zone
• shallow water near the shore in which rooted water plants can grow
• extent of littoral zone depends on the slope of lake bottom and depth
of euphotic zone.
• Benthic Zone
• bottom sediments: As organisms living in the overlying water die,
they settle to bottom where they are decomposed by organisms
living in benthic zone.
• Bacteria are always present
• presence of higher life forms such as worms, insects, and crustaceans
depends on availability of oxygen
Biological
zones in a
lake
Types of Lakes: Lake
Productivity

• productivity of a lake is a measure of its ability to

support a food web
• Algae form base of this food web: productivity may
be determined by measuring the amount of algal
growth that can be supported by the available
nutrients

• more productive lake usually will have a higher fish

population
• increased productivity generally results in reduced
water quality because of undesirable changes that
occur as algal growth increases
 Types of Lakes: Lake
Productivity
• Oligotrophic lakes
• low level of productivity due to a severely limited supply of nutrients to support algal growth.
• water is clear enough that bottom can be seen at considerable depths.
• euphotic zone often extends into hypolimnion, which is aerobic.
• Oligotrophic lakes support cold water fish.
• Eutrophic lakes
• high productivity because of abundant supply of algal nutrients: algae cause water to be highly turbid
• Euphotic zone may extend only partially into the epilimnion.
• As algae die, they settle to lake bottom where they are decomposed by benthic organisms.
• decomposition depletes the hypolimnion of oxygen during summer stratification.
• Highly eutrophic lakes may also have large mats of floating algae that typically impart unpleasant tastes
and odors to the water.
• Mesotrophic lakes
• intermediate between oligotrophic and eutrophic
• substantial depletion of oxygen may occur in hypolimnion, but it remains aerobic.
• Senescent lakes
• very old shallow lakes which have thick organic sediments and rooted water plants in great abundance
 Eutrophication
• Eutrophication is a natural process in which lakes gradually
become shallower and more productive through the
introduction and cycling of nutrients.
• oligotrophic lakes gradually pass through the mesotrophic,
eutrophic, and senescent stages, eventually filling
completely.
• eutrophication in some lakes is so slow that thousands of
years may pass with little change in water quality.
• Other lakes may have been eutrophic from the day they were
formed, if nutrient levels were high at that time.
• Cultural eutrophication is caused when human activity speeds
the processes naturally occurring by increasing the rate at
which sediments and nutrients are added to the lake.
• lake pollution can be seen as the intensification of a natural
process
• eutrophic lakes are not necessarily polluted: but that
pollution contributes to eutrophication.
• To understand the factors involved in eutrophication, it is
necessary to understand the factors contributing to algal
growth.
 Algal Growth Requirements
• Carbon
• Algae obtain carbon from carbon dioxide dissolved in the water.
• available carbon is determined by the alkalinity of the water (related to
CO2)
• When carbon dioxide is removed from the water, it is replenished from
the atmosphere (virtually inexhaustible source)
• Nitrogen
• usually in the form of nitrate NO3-: comes from external sources:
inflowing streams or groundwater
• Used as a nutrient by algae: When dead algae undergo decomposition,
organic nitrogen is released to the water as ammonia (NH3).
• Phosphorus
• originates from external sources and is taken up by algae in the inorganic
form and incorporated into organic compounds
• During algal decomposition, phosphorus is returned to the inorganic
form.
• P is usually the limiting nutrient: amount of phosphorus controls the
quantity of algal growth and therefore the productivity of lakes.
• Trace Elements
• The quantities of trace elements required to support algal growth are so small
that most fresh waters have sufficient amounts for a substantial algal
population.
Questions