UNIT 6

WATER POLLUTION

AND

ITS MANAGEMENT
1. Water pollution
What is water pollution
 Water pollution can be defined as

"the presence of a substance in the

environment that because of its chemical
composition or quantity, prevents the
functioning of natural processes and
produces undesirable environmental and
(human) health effects."
Main groups of water pollutants
1. Biodegradable
 Rapidly degradable (non-persistent)
 Slowly degradable (persistent)

2. Non-biodegradable
• Glass
• Plastic
• Metallic waste
• Synthetic fibers
Water Pollutants: sources
a. Non-pont-source
pollutants: agricultural
runoff, storm-water
drainage, atmospheric
deposition.

b. Point-source
pollutants: discharges
from factories,
sewage systems,
power plants,
underground coal
mines, oil wells.
Strategies to bring water pollution under
control:
1. Reduce or
remove the
sources

2. Treat the water

to remove
pollutants or
convert them to
harmless forms.
Water pollutants: types

a. Pathogens

b. Organic wastes

c. Chemical pollutants

d. Sediments

e. Nutrients
Pathogens
 Infectious Disease Infectious Agent

agents that •Typhoid fever •Salmonella typhi (bacterium)

cause sickness •Cholera Vibrio cholerae (bacterium)

and death •Salmonellosis •Salmonella sp. (bacteria)

•Diarrhea •Echerichia coli,

•Campylobacter sp. (bacteria)
•Cryptosporidium pavum (protozoan)
 Come from •Infectious hepatitis •Hepatitis A virus
excrement •Poliomyelitis •Poliovirus
from humans •Dysentery •Shigella sp. (bacteria)
and other •Entamoeba histolytica (protozoan)
•Giardiasis •Giardia intestinales (protozoan)
animals that
•Numerous parasitic •(Roundworms, flatworms)
are infected diseases
Public heath
 Before mid 1800s: epidemics were common in cities
(typhoid fever, cholera)

 After: connection between disease and sewage-carried

pathogens

 Today: public health measures

Purification and disinfection of public water supplies with
chlorine and other agents
Sanitary collection and treatment of sewage wastes
Maintenance of sanitary standards in all facilities in which food
is processed or prepared for public consumption
Public education in personal and domestic hygiene practices
Sanitation = good medicine
 Good health is a result of the prevention of disease
through public-health measures
 Population in areas where there is little or no sewage
treatment are extremely vulnerable to deadly epidemics.
Organic wastes
 Includes leaves, grass clippings, trash, etc.

 Enter water as a consequence of runoff or excessive

aquatic plant growth

 As bacteria and detritus feeders decompose organic matter,

they consume O2 dissolved in water.

 BOD (biochemical oxygen demand): measures the amount

of organic material in water in terms of how much oxygen
will be required to break it down.
Fishes and shellfish are killed at an OD of 2 to 3 ppm
A BOD value for raw sewage is around 250 ppm
Chemical pollutants
 Inorganic chemicals: include heavy metals
(lead, mercury, cadmium, nickel, etc), acids
from mine drainage and acid precipitation,
and road salts.

 Organic chemicals: include petroleum

products, pesticides, industrial chemicals
(PolyChorinated Biphenyls, cleaning
solvents and detergents)
Sediments
 Erosion from farmlands, deforested slopes, overgrazed
rangelands, construction sites, mining sites, stream
banks and roads increase the load of sediments.
Nutrients
 Inorganic chemicals carried in solution in
all bodies of water are classified as
nutrients.
 Include phosphorus and nitrogen
 Stimulate undesirable plant growth in
the bodies of water.
 Sources include sewage outfalls,
agricultural runoff, lawns and gardens,
golf courses and storm drains.
Water quality standards
 National Recommended Water Quality
Criteria (EPA) provides standards for
assessing water pollution.

 Lists 158 chemicals and substances as

criteria pollutants and recommends
concentrations for fresh water, salt water
and human consumption
Water quality standards
Criteria maximum concentration (CMC):
highest single concentration beyond which
environmental impacts may be expected
Criterion continuous concentration (CCC):
highest sustained concentration beyond
which undesirable impacts may be expected
Drinking water standards and health
advisories: enforceable under the authority
of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)
○ Maximum Contaminant levels (MCLs)
Arsenic as a example:
 Listed as a human carcinogen
 CMC and CCC values are 340 and 150
g/L for freshwater bodies, and 69 and
36 g/L for saltbodies.
 Drinking water MCL concentration is 10
g/L
2. Eutrophication
Types of aquatic plants
 Benthic
Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV)
Emergent vegetation
 Phytoplankton (algae, protists, cyanobacteria
What is an oligo-trophic body of
water?
 Oligotrophic = low in nutrients
What is a Eutrophic Body of Water?
 Eutrophic = well nourished
How do you create a Eutrophic Body of
Water?
 1. Nutrient enrichment,
natural or cultural

 2. Increased phytoplankton
growth resulting in increased
turbidity

 3. Loss of sunlight, food and

habitat

 4. Depletion of dissolved
oxygen from decomposition
of phytoplankton by
decomposers
How to Stop Eutrophication
1. Attack the symptoms:

Chemical treatments (with herbicides)

Aeration

Harvest aquatic weeds

Draw water down

How to Stop Eutrophication
2. Attack the root cause:

Control point-source pollutants

○ Ban the sale of phosphate detergents
○ Regulate the maximum alowable level of
phosphates
How to Stop Eutrophication
2. Attack the root cause:

Control non-point-source pollutants

○ EPA regulations through;
○ Identify pollutants
○ Estimate pollution comming from all sources
○ Estimate the ability of the body of water to
assimilate pollutants
○ Determine the maximum allowable pollution load
○ Allocate the allowable level of pollution among the
different sources
How to Stop Eutrophication
2. Attack the root cause:

Best management practices (BMPs)

○ Practices used to minimize erosion, runoff and
leaching
○ Methods of soil conservation
 When washings from animal facilities are flushed
directly into natural waterways, they contribute
significantly to eutrophication. This may be avoided
by collecting the flushings in ponds from which
both the water and the nutrients may be recycled.
How to Stop Eutrophication
2. Attack the root cause:

Recovery
○ Govenrment practices for the management of
watersheds
○ Lake washington
3. Sewage Management and
Treatment
History of sewage treatment
 Late 1800s: human excrement was disposed in the outdoor
privy

 Louis Pasteur and other scientists showed that sewage borne

bacteria were responsible for many infectious diseases

 Human wastes started to be disposed through drain systems

 The flush toilet was introduced

 Water became unfit to swim in because of sewage

contamination

 1900: Sewage treatment systems were developed

What is in Raw Sewage
 1. Debris and grit: plastic bags, coarse sand, gravel

 2. Particulate organic matter: fecal matter, food wastes, garbage,

toilet paper

 3. Colloidal and dissolved organic matter: urine, soaps, detergents

and cleaning agents.

 4. Dissolved inorganic matter: nitrogen, phosphorus, and other

nutrients

 5. Pathogens: bacteria, protozoa, virus

 6. Heavy metals, pesticides, and various other toxic compounds

How Do We Remove These Substances
from the Water?

 Preliminary Treatment - debris and grit

removed by a bar screen and grit chamber
How Do We Remove These Substances
from the Water?
 Primary Treatment - particulate organic
matter removed by primary clarifiers
How Do We Remove These Substances
from the Water?
 Secondary Treatments - colloidal and
dissolved inorganic matter removed by
trickling filter systems or activated sludge
systems
How Do We Remove These Substances
from the Water?
 Biological Nutrient Removal - dissolved inorganic matter removed by
bacterial denitrification and bacterial uptake of phosphorus
a. Can also be done inorganically by using chemical processes
·Lime causes phosphate to precipitate as insoluble calcium phosphate
·Ferric chloride causes phosphate to precipitate as insoluble ferric
phosphate
b. Removal of the dissolved inorganic matter is not standard treatment
though it is becoming more common
Final Clarification and Disinfection
 Meant to eliminate pathogens
 Disinfecting agents
chlorine gas
Sodium hypochlorite (chlorox)
Ozone gas
Ultraviolet light
Discharge
 BOD values are 10 to 20 ppm (200 ppm
in the incoming sewage)

 Many cities are still operating with lower

quality treatments or with no treatment
at all.
Treatment of sludge
 Raw sludge
Most is disposed in landfills with no previous
treatment
It is considered a biologically hazardous material
It is a nutrient-rich organic material with potential
to be used as organic fertilizer
Methods for treating sludge include:
○ Anaerobic digestion
○ Composting
○ Pasteurization
 Anaerobic digestion
 Raw sludge is put into large
airtight tanks (sludge digesters)

 Anaerobic bacteria break down

the organic matter

 End products include carbon

dioxide, methane and water
(biogas)

 Treated sludge is called biosolid

 Dewatered it becomes a sludge

cake
Composting
 Raw sludge is mixed with wood chips
 Placed in piles that allow air circulation
 Aerobic bacteria and other decomposers
break down organic material to rick
humus-like material
Pasteurization
 The sludge cake is put through ovens to
be pasteurized
 The product is dry, odorless organic
pellets.
Alternative Treatment Systems
 On site wastewater
treatment systems

 Using effluents for

irrigation

 Reconstructed wetland
systems