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ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
مبادئ الهندسة البيئية
WATER QUALITY
جودة المياه
إعداد وتقديم /م .خالد محمد زكريا
التعاريف
The Quality of this Fresh Water is Vitally Important, why?
o We depend on surface and groundwater sources for our drinking water.
o We also need water to generate energy, to grow our crops, to harvest fish, to run machinery, to carry
wastes, to enhance the landscape.
o We use water for washing and cleaning, industrial abstraction, recreation, cooking, gardening, etc..
o Water is also vital as a habitat for both freshwater and marine plants and animals.
WATER POLLUTION:
Defined as the presence of impurities in water in such quantities as to impair the use of the water for a stated
purpose.
WASTE SOURCES
Point Sources (well defined origin, easily measured): such as municipal wastewater and industrial
wastewater
Non-Point Sources: not well defined such as agricultural waste, urban runoff, atmospheric
Water Pollution
IMPURITIES ACCUMULATED BY WATER MAY BE IN BOTH SUSPENDED OR DISSOLVED FORM:
SUSPENDED MATERIALS: Consist of Particles Larger Than Molecular Size and That Are Supported by
Buoyant and Viscous Forces Within the Water
DISSOLVED MATERIALS: Consist of Molecules or Ions That Are Held by The Molecular Structure of
Water.
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Colloid particles are very small particles that are technically suspended but often exhibit characteristics of
dissolved particles.
What is the quality of water?
Water quality refers to the chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of water. It is a measure
of the condition of water relative to the requirements of the intended use (e.g. drinking, industrial,
irrigation).
Water used for certain purpose is compared with standards for that type of water
Standards put into account not to affect negatively public health, plant growth, or industrial
processes
Need for testing water quality
For drinking water:
- To assess safety and palatability of water for consumption
For raw water sources:
- To select treatment systems; to establish pollution control monitoring systems
For wastewaters:
- To select type and degree of treatment; to control treatment plant operation
For receiving waters:
- To evaluate their ability to accept pollution loads; to monitor self-purification
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Physical Parameters
Characteristics of water that respond to the senses of sight, touch, taste or smell
Temperature:
Surface waters fluctuate in temperature with season; in groundwater there is only a small variation.
Significance:
- Influences rates of chemical and biological activities
- Influences the saturation values of dissolved gases and solid dissolution reactions
- High temperature can kill fish
Turbidity:
Turbidity represents lack of clearness in water (measure of interference presented by suspended
matter to passage of light).
Turbidity is due to (for example): clay, silt, finely divided organic matter, microorganisms
Significance:
- Aesthetic consideration
- Influences disinfection
- affects filterability
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Units of Measurements is Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) Silicon dioxide (SiO2) is usually
used as reference
Turbidity is measured using Turbidity meter with silica dioxide SiO2 usually used as reference
Drinking water turbidity should not exceed 5 NTU
A measure of the clarity of a water. It is determined by light scattering using a turbidimeter.
COLOR:
- Usually due to the presence of natural organic matter (humic substance giving the yellow color)
or some metallic complexes, and may also cause by certain industrial waste.
- Color may be apparent (due to suspended solids) or true (due to dissolved solids)
- Color is measured by the concentration of standard Platinum using units of Platinum Cobalt Units
(PCU) with one unit equivalent to the color produced by 1 mg/L of Platinum.
- Direct comparison with tubes containing a series of standards is usually done to figure out the
color of water samples after they are filtered to remove apparent color.
- Color is reduced or removed from water through the use of coagulation, settling and filtration
techniques
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Odor and taste:
Causes are:
- organic matter
- living organisms (algae)
- gases (hydrogen sulfide, chlorine)
- chlorides and sulfates of calcium, magnesium and sodium
- industrial wastes
They are subjective properties which are difficult to measure
For example, a panel of five people can smell water and then Threshold Odor Number (TON) is
calculated.
TON = A+B/A (A is the volume of odorous sample and B is the volume of odor free water).
Suspended Solids
Important Definitions:
- Total Solids (TS): The total of all solids in a water sample
- Total Suspended Solids (TSS): The amount of filterable solids in a water sample, filters are
dried and weighed
- Total Dissolved Solids (TDS): Non-filterable solids that pass through a filter with a pore size of
2.0 micron, after filtration the liquid is dried and residue is weighed EPA Secondary Drinking
Water Recommendation is for TDS of 500mg/L
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- Volatile Suspended Solids (VSS): Volatile solids are those solids lost on heating to 550 degrees
C -rough approximation of the amount of organic matter present in the solid fraction of
wastewater
Solids analysis
