Lecture 10

Water Pollution
 Water Quality
No simple property can tell whether water
is polluted or not

Industrial pollution is a major cause of

water pollution
Also runoff from agricultural areas, urban
stormwater runoff and discharge of untreated
sewage (especially in developing countries).
Water Quality: Why is it Important
Water quality factors influence and interact with
each other

What may cause problems in one situation may

be harmless in another or vice versa

Influences effectiveness/toxicity of treatments

Water Quality: Why is it Important
Most disease problems can be avoided with
proper management of water quality

This includes maintaining water quality at a level

that provides an environment conducive to fish
health and growth
 Water Pollutants
Contaminants that may be in untreated water include:
microorganisms (viruses and bacteria)
inorganic contaminants (salts and metals)
pesticides and herbicides
sediments
organic chemical contaminants from industrial processes
and petroleum use
radioactive contaminants.

Water quality depends on the local geology and

ecosystem, as well as human uses (sewage
dispersion, industrial pollution, use of water bodies as
a heat sink)
 Sources of water pollution

1. Point sources: industry and municipal sewage

treatment plants.

- end of the pipe

- typically continuous emission
- typically governed by Federal (EPA) standards

2. Nonpoint sources: agriculture, yard, and street

runoff

- hard to monitor
- episodic
- governed by states
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 Point and Nonpoint Sources
NONPOINT SOURCES

Rural homes

Urban streets Cropland

Animal feedlot

Suburban POINT
development SOURCES
Factory

Wastewater
treatment
plant

Fig. 22-4 p. 494

 Biotic vs. Abiotic
Abiotic components are non-living chemical
and physical factors in the environment.

The six major abiotic factors are water, sunlight,

oxygen, temperature, soil and climate.

Biotic means relating to, produced by, or

caused by living organisms.
 Biotic vs. Abiotic
Salinity
Dissolved Oxygen(DO) Microorganisms such as
pH fecal coliform bacteria
Color of water (Escherichia coli),
Turbidity
Cryptosporidium, and
Total suspended solids (TSS)
Giardia lamblia
Dissolved metals and salts
Chemical oxygen demand (COD) Dissolved organics:
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) Colored Dissolved
Nutrients Organic Matter (CDOM),
Dissolved metals Dissolved Organic
Temperature Carbon (DOC)
Pesticides
Heavy Metals
Pharmaceuticals Number of species
Hormone analogs
 Sources of Water Pollution
Industrial discharge of chemical wastes and byproducts

Discharge of poorly-treated or untreated sewage

Surface runoff containing pesticides or fertilizers

Slash and burn farming practice, which is often an element

within shifting cultivation agricultural systems

Surface runoff containing spilled petroleum products

Surface runoff from construction sites, farms, or paved and

other impervious surfaces
 Sources of Water Pollution
Discharge of contaminated and/or heated water used for industrial
processes

Acid rain caused by industrial discharge of sulfur dioxide (by

burning high-sulfur fossil fuels)

Eutrophication by runoff containing detergents or fertilizers

Underground storage tank leakage, leading to soil contamination,

and hence aquifer contamination

Inappropriate disposal of various solid wastes and, on a localized

scale, littering

Oil spills
 Types of water pollutants

1. Organic wastes: degradable wastes, residuals, some

chemicals (detergents, pesticides, oil).

2. Inorganic substances: toxic metals, salts, acids, nitrate

and phosphorous compounds.

3. Nonmaterial pollutants: heat, radioactivity.

4. Infectious agents: bacteria, viruses.

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 Types of Water Pollution

Inorganic Pollutants
Organic Pollutants
Biologic Pollutants
 Inorganic Pollutants
Examples:

Pb in gasoline
Radionuclides
Phosphorus, nitrogen (Great Lakes)
Other heavy metals
 Inorganic Pollutants
3 groups:

1) Produce no health effects until a threshold concentration is

exceedede.g., NO3 , at 50mg/liter; at higher levels:
methaemoglobinaemia

2) No thresholde.g. genotoxic substances: some natural and

synthetic organic compounds, microorganic compounds, some
pesticides, arsenic

3) Essential to diets: F, I, Se absence causes problems, but too

much also causes problems
 Inorganic Trace Contaminants
Mercury
methyl Hg and dimethyl Hg in fish
probably most significant path to humans
Minamata Bay, Japan, 1950s

Rhine River drains 185,000 sq km

heavily polluted by 1970s

Lead
toxicity has been known for a long time
Tetraethyl lead
anti-knock additive for gas, 1930-1966
 Radionuclides
South Pacific: > 20 tests, 1946-1958
Inhabitants evacuated before 1946 tests; their
descendents are still exiled
Atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons is now
banned
- National labsnow trying to clean up
(Hanford)
 Phosphates and Nitrates
Phosphatesmostly a result of sewage outflow
and phosphate detergents
Additional phosphate grows excess algae -
oxygen depletion, Lake Erie,1 972 phosphate
management plant, 7.6 billion

Nitratessewage and fertilizers

 Organic Pollutants

Three classes of compounds

Pesticides and Herbicides

Materials for common household and industrial
use
Materials for industrial use
 Monitoring water quality

Number of colonies of fecal coliform

bacteria
Bacterial source tracking (BST)
Measure biological oxygen demand (BOD)
Chemical analysis
Indicator species
Genetic development of indicator organisms
 Solutions: Preventing and Reducing
Surface Water Pollution
Nonpoint Sources Point Sources

Reduce runoff Clean Water Act

Buffer zone Water Quality Act

vegetation

Reduce soil erosion

 Pollution of Lakes
Eutrophication
WATER QUALITY MONITORING
Monitoring of river water quality in Malaysia by the
Department of Environment (DOE) started in 1978,
initially to establish water quality baseline and
subsequently to detect water quality changes and
identify pollution sources.
 River water quality appraisal is based on the
Water Quality Index (WQI)
~ Dissolved Oxygen (DO) ~
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
~ Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)
~ Ammoniacal Nitrogen (AN)
~ Suspended Solids (SS)
~ pH
WQI = 0.22(SIDO) + 0.19(SIBOD) + 0.16(SICOD)
+ 0.15(SIAN) + 0.16(SISS) + 0.12(SIpH)
The WQI serves as a basis for environmental assessment of a
watercourse in relation to pollution categorization and
designated classes of beneficial uses
~ under the Interim National Water Quality Standards for
Malaysia (INWQS).
In 2001, a total of 931 manual water quality-monitoring
stations located within 120 river basins were monitored.
~ 489 stations (53%) were found to be clean
~ 303 stations (33%) slightly polluted
~ 139 stations (15%) polluted.

Stations located upstream were generally clean,

while those downstream were either slightly
polluted or polluted.

In terms of water quality on the basis of river basins

~ 60 basins (50%) were clean compared to 34

basins in 2000
~ 47 (39%) slightly polluted compared to 74 in 2000
~ 13 (11%) polluted compared to 12 in 2000.
Major pollution sources

~ 18% of river basins were polluted by biochemical oxygen

demand (BOD) due to sewage and discharges from agro-
based and manufacturing industries.
~ 20% of river basins were polluted by ammoniacal nitrogen
(NH3-N) from sewage that included livestock farming and
domestic sewage.
~ 33% by suspended solids (SS) due to earthworks and
land-clearing activities.
Samples taken from industrial areas were found
to have more parameters exceeding the
acceptable benchmark values.
As for VOC (Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are
organic chemicals that have a high vapor pressure at
ordinary room temperature), the arithmetic mean is
12 g/l but all the concentration did not in any
case exceed the guidelines set.
Water resources protection & pollution control
legislation
Since independence, the jurisdictions and
legislative powers in all aspects of water are
distributed between the Federal Governments in
accordance with the Legislative Lists of the
Federal Constitution.
Federal List: hydropower; navigation, maritime
fisheries, estuarine fisheries, federal works and
power including water supplies, rivers and canals
except those wholly within one state or regulated
by an agreement between the States concerns.

State List: rivers, riverine fisheries and water

(including water supplies, rivers and canals if
they are wholly within one state or regulated
by an agreement among the States
concerned), control of silt and riparian rights.
These enactments empower the State Water
Supply Authorities (SWSA) to supply water to
domestic and trade consumers

~ to lay mains and distribution pipes across or

under any street
~ through or under any enclosed land making
reasonable compensation for any damage done.
For states where the water supply departments
had been privatised,
~ the state enactments provide for the
establishment of water supply regulatory bodies
to regulate and enforce the provisions of the
enactments to ensure the state governments
as well the consumers interests are
safeguarded.