Water Pollution

O Water pollution is any chemical, physical or biological change in the quality of water that has a harmful effect on any living thing that drinks or uses or lives (in) it. When humans drink polluted water it often has serious effects on their health. Water pollution can also make water unsuited for the desired use.

Water Pollutants O There are several classes of water pollutants. The first are disease-causing agents. These are bacteria, viruses, protozoa and parasitic worms that enter sewage systems and untreated wastes. A second category of water pollutants is oxygen-demanding wastes; wastes that can be decomposed by oxygen-requiring bacteria. When large populations of decomposing bacteria are converting these wastes it can deplete oxygen levels in the water. This causes other organisms in the water, such as fish, to die. A third class of water pollutants is water-soluble inorganic pollutants, such as acids, salts and toxic metals. Large quantities of these compounds will make water unfit to drink and will cause the death of aquatic life. Another class of water pollutants are nutrients; they are water-soluble nitrates and phosphates that cause excessive growth of algae and other water plants, which deplete the water's oxygen supply. This kills fish and, when found in drinking water, can kill young children. Water can also be polluted by a number of organic compounds such as oil, plastics and pesticides, which are harmful to humans and all plants and animals in the water. A very dangerous category is suspended sediment, because it causes depletion in the water's light absorption and the particles spread dangerous compounds such as pesticides through the water. Finally, water-soluble radioactive compounds can cause cancer, birth defects and genetic damage and are thus very dangerous water pollutants.

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Causes of Water Pollution O O O Water pollution is usually caused by human activities. Different human sources add to the pollution of water. There are two sorts of sources, point and nonpoint sources. Point sources discharge pollutants at specific locations through pipelines or sewers into the surface water. Nonpoint sources are sources that cannot be traced to a single site of discharge.

Water Quality O Water quality refers to the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water. It is a measure of the condition of water relative to the requirements of one or more biotic species

and or to any human need or purpose. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which compliance can be assessed. The most common standards used to assess water quality relate to health of ecosystems, safety of human contact and drinking water. Sampling and Measurement O More complex measurements are often made in a laboratory requiring a water sample to be collected, preserved, transported, and analyzed at another location. The process of water sampling introduces two significant problems. First problem: the extent to which the sample may be representative of the water source of interest. Many water sources vary with time and with location. The measurement of interest may vary seasonally or from day to night or in response to some activity of man or natural populations of aquatic plants and animals. The sampler must determine if a single time and location meets the needs of the investigation, or if the water use of interest can be satisfactorily assessed by averaged values with time and/or location, or if critical maxima and minima require individual measurements over a range of times, locations and/or events. O Second problem: occurs as the sample is removed from the water source and begins to establish chemical equilibrium with the sample container. Sample containers must be made of materials with minimal reactivity with substances to be measured; and pre-cleaning of sample containers is important. Other chemical reaction equilibria may change if the water sample changes temperature. Finely divided solid particles formerly suspended by water turbulence may settle to the bottom of the sample container, or a solid phase may form from biological growth or chemical precipitation. Microorganisms within the water sample may biochemically alter concentrations of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and organic compounds. Changing carbon dioxide concentrations may alter pH and change solubility of chemicals of interest. These problems are of special concern during measurement of chemicals assumed to be significant at very low concentrations. Solution O Solution: Sample preservation may partially resolve the second problem. A common procedure is keeping samples cold to slow the rate of chemical reactions and phase change, and analyzing the sample as soon as possible; but this merely minimizes the changes rather than preventing them.

Drinking Water Indicators O Alkalinity

Defined as the capacity to neutralize acid. Highly mineralized alkaline waters also cause excessive drying of the skin due to the fact that they tend to remove normal skin oils. Troublesome amounts of alkalinity can be removed by reverse osmosis. Distillation and deionization also remove total dissolved solids, but they are somewhat less suitable for household use compared to reverse osmosis.

Color of Water

is a subject of both scientific study and popular misconception. While relatively small quantities of water are observed by humans to be colorless, pure water has a slight blue tint that becomes a deeper blue as the thickness of the observed sample increases. The color of a water sample can be reported as: Apparent Color is the color of the whole water sample, and consists of color from both dissolved and suspended components. True Color is measured after filtering the water sample to remove all suspended material. O pH

Is a measure of the activity of the (solvated) hydrogen ion. The scale numbered from 0 to 14, rates water solutions according to their acidity or alkalinity. Pure water has a pH very close to 7 at 25C. Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline. O Taste and Odor

(geosmin, 2-Methylisoborneol (MIB), etc.) O Dissolved Metals and Salts

(sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, manganese, magnesium) O Microorganisms

such as fecal coliform bacteria (Escherichia coli), Cryptosporidium, and Giardia lamblia O Dissolved metals and metalloids

(lead, mercury, arsenic, etc.)

Dissolved organics

colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) O O O O Radon Heavy metals Pharmaceuticals Hormone analogs

Environmental Indicators 1. Chemical Assestment

Dissolved oxygen (DO) measures the amount of gaseous oxygen (O2) dissolved in an aqueous solution. Total dissolved gas concentrations in water should not exceed 110 percent. Concentrations above this level can be harmful to aquatic life. As dissolved oxygen levels in water drop below 5.0 mg/l, aquatic life is put under stress. The lower the concentration, the greater the stress. Oxygen levels that remain below 1-2 mg/l for a few hours can result in large fish kills.

2. Chemical Assestment O O O Nitrate-N affects more on sea water Orthophosphates affects more on freshwater environment Chemical oxygen demand (COD) is commonly used to indirectly measure the amount of organic compounds in water. It determines the amount of organic pollutants found in surface water (e.g. lakes and rivers) or wastewater, making COD a useful measure of water quality.

3. Chemical Assestment O Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) indicates the amount of putrescible organic matter present in water. Therefore, a low BOD is an indicator of good quality water, while a high BOD indicates polluted water. Pesticides Metals Environmental Indicators Physical Assestment pH Temperature Total suspended solids (TSS) High concentrations of suspended solids can lower water quality by absorbing light. Waters then become warmer and lessen the ability of the water to hold oxygen necessary for aquatic life. Because aquatic plants also receive less light, photosynthesis decreases and less oxygen is produced. The combination of warmer water, less light and less oxygen makes it impossible for some forms of life to exist. Turbidity is a measure of the degree to which the water loses its transparency due to the presence of suspended particulates. The more total suspended solids in the water, the murkier it seems and the higher the turbidity. The WHO (World Health Organization), establishes that the turbidity of drinking water shouldn't be more than 5 NTU, and should ideally be below 1 NTU. Total dissolved solids (TDS) refer to any minerals, salts, metals, cations or anions dissolved in water. A TDS meter is based on the electrical conductivity (EC) of water. Pure H20 has virtually zero conductivity.

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Water Supply Hydrological Cycle O O O The hydrologic cycle is the process, powered by the sun's energy, which moves water between the oceans, the sky, and the land. This hydrologic cycle comprises natures method of replenishing, redistributing and purifying the world' s natural water resources. The Ocean holds the bigger amount of water in the world which over 97%. The sun causes evaporation of water on the surface of the ocean. The water vapor rises and condenses into tiny droplets which cling to dust particles. These droplets form clouds. And then it turns into Precipitation (Ex. Rain). Some precipitation falls onto the land and is absorbed (infiltration) or becomes surface runoff which gradually flows into gullies, streams, lakes, or rivers. Water in streams and rivers flows to the ocean, seeps into the ground, or evaporates back into the atmosphere. Water in the soil can be absorbed by plants and is then transferred to the atmosphere by a process known as transpiration. Water from the soil is evaporated into the atmosphere. These processes are collectively known as transpiration. Some water in the soil seeps downward into a zone of porous rock which contains groundwater. A permeable underground rock layer which is capable of storing, transmitting, and supplying significant amounts of water is known as an aquifer. More precipitation than evaporation or transpiration occurs over the land but most of the earth's evaporation (86%) and precipitation (78%) take place over the oceans. The amount of precipitation and evaporation is balanced throughout the world. While specific areas of the earth have more precipitation and less evaporation than others, and the reverse is also true, on a global scale over a few year period, everything balances out.

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World Water Supply by Location Oceans Ice Sheets and Glaciers Ground Water Atmosphere Lakes (Fresh) Inland Seas and Salt Water Lakes Soil Moisture Rivers Water Availability O Effective management of water resources at catchment level warrants some anticipation of how water resources are going to change in the future under the influence of both natural and man made changes. 97.08% 1.99% 0.62% 0.29% 0.01% 0.005% 0.004% 0.001%

The possibility of supplying as much water to the irrigation area as is needed during each period of the irrigation season depends primarily on the availability of the water at its source. Availability may vary a lot over the year, or even between one year and another. Secondly, the supply depends on the capacity of the facility installed to withdraw the water from the water source. (Ex. Dams).

Underground Water Supply O Underground water is water located beneath the earth's surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. Examples of ground water are well, boreholes, aquifers, etc. Underground water represents the portion of precipitation that seeps (infiltrates) into the land surface, entering the empty spaces between soil particles. The larger the soil particles, the larger the empty spaces, and the greater the potential for water infiltration. Soils composed of large soil particles are more permeable than soils composed of small particles. Thus, they can hold more water than the latter. The infiltrating water sources include natural precipitation or snowmelt, streams, lakes, reservoirs and wetlands. Only about half of the worlds undergroundwater resources is located sufficiently close to the land surface to allow its withdrawal to be economically feasible (Photo 44). Some have identified this limit as being no more than about 800m below the land surface, although the ease of underground water extraction also depends on other factors. The majority of drinking water supplies on a global scale is from undergroundwater sources The present volume of water being withdrawn annually from aquifers around the world is approximately 600-700 cubic kilometres. Unfortunately, many aquifers are currently being overexploited to meet human water demands. A prominent example is the Ogallala Aquifer, which underlies much of the central part of the United States. Continuing over-exploitation of this massive aquifer over many years, primarily for agricultural irrigation, has caused its water table to sink to hundreds of meters below the land surface.

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Surface Water O SURFACE WATER refers to water found on the surface of the earth. It is naturally replenished by precipitation and naturally lost through discharge to evaporation and sub-surface seepage into the ground. Lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands are all examples of surface water.

Water Transmission O The overall objective of a transmission system is to deliver raw water from the source to the treatment plants and transmit treated water from treatment plants to the storage reservoirs for onward supply into distribution networks. Transmission of raw water can be either by canals or by pipes whereas transmission of treated water is by pipes only. Transmission through pipes can be either by gravity flow or by pumping.

Water Transmission Process O 1. First, the intake pipes sip the water from the water sources and take it to the water transmission facilities for water treatment. Water Treatments: O Coagulation Coagulation water treatment uses chemical processes to prepare water for human use or to return it to the environment. Through coagulation, water treatment plants can remove the waste particles in water and further treat it to be usable again. Treated water is also less harmful when returned to the natural environment. Here are a few more facts about coagulation water treatment. O Filtration A water filter removes impurities from water by means of a fine physical barrier, a chemical process or a biological process. Filters cleanse water to various extents for irrigation, drinking water, aquariums, and swimming pools.(Disinfectant Chlorine) O 2. Distribution of water After the water treated it will be distributed by using transmission pipes to carry water to storage reservoirs or to smaller-diameter distribution mains that carry water to commercial and residential users.