Dr.

Ramakrishna Bag
Dept of Civil Engineering
NIT Rourkela
 Environmental Engineering

Water pollution Air pollution

Noise pollution
 Water pollution
Water quality
physical, chemical & biological characteristics

Drinking water standards

Water and wastewater treatment processes-

Physical, chemical and biological unit operations;
 Characteristics of water
Physical characteristics
Turbidity, colour, taste, odour etc

Turbidity: presence of suspended matter e.g. Clay, silt or

other fine organic material.
Turbidity is measured using turbidity rod/turbidity meter.
Unit: mg/l or ppm (parts per million)

Water Turbidity (mg/l)

Clear lake water 25
Muddy water 100

Permissible limit for drinking water 5 to 10 mg/l

 Turbidity measurement devices

Jacksons turbidity meter

 Colour: presence of organic/ inorganic material,
colour soils etc.

Presence of colour may not be objectionable from health

point of view but it may be objectionable from aesthetic
and psychological point of view.

The colour produced by dissolving 1 mg of platinum

cobalt in distilled water is referred as standard unit of
colour.

Maximum permissible colour for domestic use: 20 ppm.

 Taste and odour: Dissolved organic/inorganic material,
salts and gases (H2S, CH4, CO2 etc).
For drinking purposes water must not contain any
undesirable taste or odour.
Taste or odour is measured by odour intensity that is
related to threshold odour number.

Lets say 40 ml of odorous water sample is diluted to make 200

ml so that the odour vanishes then the threshold odour number
= 5.
For public supplies threshold odour number = 1, that is the water
should be odour free.
 Temperature: Usually temperature does not have any
practical significance, however for potable water 10 oC is
desirable, Temp. Above 25 oC are considered
objectionable.

Specific conductivity: Pure water is poor conductor of

electricity, however, electrical conductivity increases in
presence of ions such as Ca+2, Mg+2, K+, HCO3-, SO4-2 , Cl-
Higher the concentration of ions higher will be electrical
conductivity of water.
Electrical conductivity/specific conductivity = total
dissolved solids, measured using conductivity sensor.
 Unit of electrical conductivity = mhos/cm or Siemen/cm

mhos = 1 amp/ 1 volt; that is the measure of how much

electricity being conducted through 1 cm of water.

mhos or Siemen are large unit, therefore, microsiemen (S) is

typically used. Surface water conductivity is in the range of
S/cm (10-6 S/cm).

Electrical conductivity should be measured at 25 oC, since

conductivity increases with increase in temperature.
 Specific conductivity is multiplied with a conversion
factor, known as conductivity factor to find out total
dissolve solids (TDS).
Ion Conductivity factor (ppm/ (S/cm))
K+ 0.63
Na+ 0.47
Ca+2 0.38
Mg+2 0.26
CO3 0.35
Cl- 0.47
SO42- 0.65
NO3- 0.87
HCO3- 1.4

Generally an approximate value of 0.67 is used as conductivity factor.

TDS (ppm or mg/l) = Conductivity (in s/cm) * 0.67

Chemical properties
Total solid and suspended solids
pH
Hardness
Cl-, N2+, Fe+2, Mg+2 etc
Dissolved gases
 Total solids and suspended solids
Total solids evaporating and weighing the residue
Suspended solids by filtering
Dissolve solids = Total solids suspended solids
Total permissible amount of solids in water < 500 ppm

pH: is the indicator of acidity or alkalinity of water.

That is the logarithm of hydrogen ion concentration
present in water.
log 10 (1/H+) = 7
0 pH < 7 , acidic
7<pH 14 , alkaline
 pH is measured using potentiometer. The potentiometer
measures electrical potential exerted by hydrogen ions
and thereby indicate their concentrations.

Prob: In a water treatment plant, the pH values of

incoming and outgoing waters are 7.2 and 8.4,
respectively. Determine the average pH value of water.

Calculate it and tell me the answer?

 Hardness: is the characteristics of water that prevents
from formation of sufficient foam when mixed with
soap.
Cause: presence of calcium and magnesium salt
Effect: Lead to greater soap consumption, scaling of
boilers, corrosion, making food tasteless.
Unit: mg/l

Hardness

Temporary Hardness Permanent hardness

 Temporary hardness/ carbonate hardness: due to
presence of bicarbonate and carbonate of calcium and
magnesium. Can be removed by boiling water.

Permanent hardness/ non-carbonate hardness:

sulphate, chloride and nitrate of calcium and
magnesium. Can not be removed by boiling water.

Hardness = Calcium carbonate equivalent of calcium

and magnesium ions present in water.
 Total hardness in mg/l as CaCO3 = [Ca++ in mg/l * (Equivalent
wt. of CaCo3/ Eqv. wt of ca++)] + [Mg++ in mg/l * (Eqv. wt. of CaCo3/
Eqv. wt of Mg++)]

The equivalent wt of Ca++, Mg++ and CaCO3 are 20, 12 and

50 respectively. Find out total hardness of water?

Total hardness = [Ca++ in mg/l * (50/ 20)] + [Mg++ in mg/l * (50/ 12)]

Carbonate hardness is equal to the total hardness or

alkalinity whichever is less.
Non-carbonate hardness = Total hardness carbonate
hardness.
If the alkalinity is equal to or greater than the total hardness,
there is no non-carbonate hardness.
 Prob 2: Find out the carbonate and non-carbonate
hardness of a water having a total alkalinity of 200 mg/l
as CaCO3 and 120 mg/l of Ca++, and 60 mg/l of Mg++
as ions.
Total hardness = 120 * (50/20) + 60* (50/12)
= 300 + 250
= 550 mg/l as CaCO3
By definition, carbonate hardness is the lesser of the
total hardness or alkalinity, therefore carbonate
hardness = 200 mg/l.
Non-carbonate hardness = Total hardness Carbonate
hardness
= 550 200 = 350 mg/l
 Total alkalinity = bicarbonate alkalinity + carbonate
alkalinity.
Drinking water hardness should be between 75 and 115
ppm.

Chloride Content: Chloride generally present in

water in the form of sodium chloride.
Marine deposit, leaching, brine, industrial and domestic
water.
Can be measured by titrating the water with silver
nitrate solution using potassium chromate as indicator.
 Nitrogen Content: Nitrogen in water present in the form
of
Ammonia nitrogen
Organic nitrogen
Nitrites
Nitrates

Presence of nitrogen indicate presence of organic

matter in water.

Metals and other chemical substance: Tests are

carried out to determine the amounts of various
metals and other substances such as Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb,
As, F etc.
 Dissolved gas:
Several gases such as N2, NH4, S, CO2, O2 are dissolve
in water.
The amount of dissolved gases present in water
indicates the contamination level and treatment
required.
H2S - bad taste and odour
NH4 - explosive tendency
CO2 biological activity, corrosion
O2 consumed by unstable organic matter for oxidation.
 Determination of O2 deficiency:
Mix water sample with 10% potassium permanganate
expose the mixture to the atmosphere for 4 hours at 27 oC.
Determine the oxygen absorbed by titration.
For potable water oxygen deficiency should be <10 ppm.

Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD): The extent of organic

matter present is determined by supplying oxygen to the
sample and finding oxygen consumed by the organic
matter present. The oxygen demand for this case is known
as biological oxygen demand (BOD).
 Aerobic bacteria consumed oxygen for biological
decomposition of waste and organic matter.

Polluted water consume oxygen for many more months,

therefore oxygen demand at 5 days is considered as
biological oxygen demand = BOD of 5 days = BOD5 = Loss
of oxygen in mg/l * dilution factor or dilution ratio

BOD = 0, no oxygen is required and thus no organic matter

is present.

BOD of drinking water must be zero.

Bacterial and microscopic characteristics

Bacteria: Bacteria are the minute single cell organisms

possessing no defined nucleolus and having no green
material (chlorophyll) to help them manufacture their
own food.
Size: dia 0.2 to 5 m, length 1- 10 m
 Bacteria

Pathogens Non-pathogens

Pathogens: Harmful for human and animals causing

serious water borne disease such as cholera, typhoid,
hepatitis etc.
Non-pathogens: Harmless, under certain condition
they are beneficial to human being, animal or crops.
 Bacteria

Aerobic Anaerobic Facultative

Aerobic : Those which require oxygen for their survival.

Anaerobic: Those do not require free oxygen for their
survival.
Facultative: those which can survive with or without free
oxygen.
 Coliform: are rod-shaped bacteria.
Commonly used bacteria indicator for choice of
drinking water. Presence of coliforms indicates fecal
pollution in water .
Fecal coliform: the coliforms which are mostly found in
human feces.
Escherichia Coli (E-coli): is the predominant member of
the fecal coliform group
E-coli lives only in human or animal intestines.
Visible in the environment only for some days.
Detection of E-Coli in drinking water considered as evidence
of recent pollution with human or animal feces.
 Determine of coliform bacteria
membrane filter technique

Filter the water sample, bacteria will be

retained
Rinse the filter with buffer solution
placed upon a nutrient saturated pad
Bacteria will grow upon nutrient
medium and can be counted
 Multiple tube fermentation technique
Coliform bacteria ferment lactose and gas formation takes place
in 24 hours
Place lactose in a series of test tubes.
5 nos of tubes are mixed with 10 ml of water sample
Another 5 nos of tubes are mixed with 1 ml of water sample
Another 5 nos of tubes are mixed with 0.1 ml of water sample
Incubate the tubes for 24 hours at 35 oC
If gas formation takes place that indicates presence of coliform
bacteria
Tubes with gas formation are known as positive test tubes
Next tubes with positive test results undergoes confirmatory
tests.
Finally based on positive test tube results using statistical
method most probable number of the coliforms or MPN is
determined.
Required reading

IS 10500:2012
 This week tutorial work
What are the positive and negative impacts to the
environment and society due to development in your
specialised area (for ex: Computer Sc, Mechanical
Engg, Electronics Engg, Civil Egg, Chemical Engg etc.)