EN 301 Environmental Engineering-I

Spring 2016
Water Pollution

Dr. Atif Mustafa

Associate Professor
Department of Environmental Engineering
NED University of Engineering and Technology
Karachi-75270

Dissolved Oxygen and BOD

Dissolved oxygen is required to maintain a
balanced community of organisms in water
bodies
When an oxygen-demanding waste is added
to water, then the rate at which oxygen is

consumed in stabilising the waste may exceed

the rate at which oxygen is present in the system
This leads to depletion of oxygen levels in the
water body
When oxygen levels drop below 4-5 mg/L, there
is negative impact on the aquatic life

Effects of Organic Waste on DO Levels

Changes in DO and BOD

Point and Non-point Sources of Pollution

NONPOINT SOURCES

Rural homes

Cropland

Urban streets

Animal feedlot
Suburban
development

POINT
SOURCES

Factory

Wastewater
treatment
plant

Fig. 22-4 p. 494

Point and Non-Point Sources of Nutrients

Management of water
=
Management of
society?

Indus River

Ponds for
Industrial
Wastewater
Treatment

Kotri Industrial
Area

Water Pollution

Case Study Death of Aral Sea

The Aral Sea in Central Asia was the fourth largest lake on the planet
in 1960
By 2007 it had shrunk to 10 percent of its original size
Widespread, wasteful irrigation of the deserts along the Amu and Syr
rivers, which feed the Aral, cut the freshwater inflow to a trickle

Death of Aral Sea

1973

1986

2001

2013

Ecological Death (over 30 years)

Health Toll
The receding sea has exposed
and dried 54,000 square
kilometers of seabed, which is
choked with salt and in some
places laced with pesticides
and other agricultural chemicals
deposited by runoff
Strong windstorms blow salt,
dust and contaminants as far as
500 km
Airborne sodium bicarbonate,
sodium chloride and sodium
sulfate kill or retard the growth
of natural vegetation and
crops

Common Contaminants of Drinking Water

Substance

Source

Health Impacts

Persistent chlorinated
organic compounds

Used as solvents in industry, Cancer and reproductive problems

previously used as a
pesticide

Trihalomethanes

Produced by chemical
reactions when water is
disinfected with chlorine

Liver and kidney damage and possible

cancer

Nitrates

Primarily from fertilizer and

effluent from livestock raising

Can react to reduce oxygen uptake by blood,

especially in children Methaemoglobinaemia
WHO's Guideline Value for NITRATE in
drinking water is 50 mg/l as nitrate ion (or 11 mg/l
as nitrate-nitrogen)and for
NITRITE is 3 mg/l as nitrite ion (or 0.9 mg/l as
nitrite-nitrogen)

Lead

Old piping and solder in

public water distribution
systems, homes and other
buildings

Nerve damage, learning difficulties in

children, birth defects, possible cancer

Pathogenic bacteria,
protozoa and viruses

Leaking septic tanks and

Acute gastrointestinal illness and other
sewers; contamination of
serious health problems
water supply from birds and
mammals; inadequate
disinfection