3L 1T 0P 4

CT- 317 Credit

Water pollution and abatement
Course content

Unit 1 (12hrs)
Water Pollution, classification of types of water pollutants, their sources, and effects on human health and the environment

Unit 2 (12hrs)
Physico-chemical characterization of wastewater, various national and international water quality standards, water and
industrial wastewater pollution management strategies and policies
Unit 3 (20 hrs)
Water treatment techniques, coagulation, flocculation, skimming, floatation, etc. Pretreatment, Primary, secondary, and
tertiary treatment techniques (settling, filtration, aerobic and anaerobic digestion, activated sludge process, trickling filter

Unit 4 (12hrs)
Advanced wastewater treatment processes, Industrial Wastewater Treatment Technologies Classification of industrial effluents
Specific treatment processes.

Text and Reference Books:

1. Wastewater Engineering: Treatment and Resource Recovery. Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., George Tchobanoglous, H. Stensel,
Ryujiro Tsuchihashi and Franklin Burton, 5th Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York. (2014)
2. Environmental Pollution Control Engineering, CS Rao , New age publishers, New Delhi, 1992
आपो हष्ठा मयो भुव:
स्ता न ऊजर्जे दधातन….
यो वः शवतमो रस:
Yajurveda (11.50)

Water is life giver on earth. It is

the great source of energy. And it
is the most beneficial elixir .
Water importance
Water is essential for life. Without water, there would be no life. 71% of
the earth’s surface is covered by water only a tiny fraction of this water is
available to us as fresh water.
About 97% of the total water available on earth is found in oceans and is
too salty for drinking or irrigation.
The remaining 3% is fresh water.
Of this, 2.7% is locked in ice caps or glaciers.

Thus only 0.3% of the earth’s total volume of water is easily available to
us as soil moisture, groundwater, water vapor, and water in lakes,
streams, rivers, and wetlands.
Surface water: Water that is found in streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands and
artificial reservoirs is called surface water.

Groundwater: Water that percolates into the ground and fills the pores in
soil and rock is called groundwater.

Porous water-saturated layers of sand, gravel or bedrock through which

ground water flows are called aquifers. Most aquifers are replenished
naturally by rainfall that percolates downward through the soil and rock. This
process is called natural recharge. If the withdrawal rate of an aquifer exceeds
its natural recharge rate, the water table is lowered.
 BIS: 10500-2012: Drinking Water Specification
S.N. Test Parameter Acceptable limit Permissible limit In the
Absence of alternate
source
1. Odour Agreeable Agreeable
2. Taste Agreeable Agreeable
3. pH value 6.5 – 8.5 No relaxation
4. Turbidity, (NTU), Max 1 5
5. Total dissolved solids (TDS), (mg/L), Max 500 2000
6. Total alkalinity as CaCO3, (mg/L), Max 200 600
7. Total hardness as CaCO3, (mg/L), Max 200 600
8. Calcium as Ca, (mg/L), Max 75 200
9. Magnesium as Mg, (mg/L), Max 30 100
10. Chloride as Cl, (mg/L), Max 250 1000
11. Residual Free Chlorine, (mg/L), Min 0.2 1
12. Sulphate as SO4, (mg/L), Max 200 400
13. Nitrate Nitrogen as NO3, (mg/L), Max 45 No relaxation
14. Fluoride as F, (mg/L), Max 1.0 1.5
15. Total Iron as Fe, (mg/L), Max 0.3 No relaxation
16. Copper, (mg/L), Max 0.05 1.5
17. Nickel, (mg/L), Max 0.02 No relaxation
8
18. Chromium, (mg/L), Max 0.05 No relaxation
 Water pollution
When the quality or composition of water changes
directly or indirectly as a result of man’s activities
such that it becomes unfit for any purpose it is said
to be polluted. Any physical, biological, or chemical
change in water quality that adversely affects living
organisms or makes water unsuitable for certain use
is referred to as water pollution.
This form of environmental degradation occurs
when pollutants are directly or indirectly discharged
into water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans,
aquifers, and groundwater without adequate
treatment to remove harmful compounds.
⚫ Water pollution affects the entire biosphere –
plants and organisms living in these bodies of
water.
⚫ In almost all cases the effect is damaging
not only to individual species and population
but also to the natural biological
communities
Sources of water pollution:
Water pollution can occur from two sources.
1. Point source and
2. Non-point source

Point sources of pollution are those which have directly identifiable sources.
Example includes: pipe attached to a factory, oil spill from a tanker, and
effluents coming out from industries. Point sources of pollution also include
wastewater effluent plants (both municipal and industrial).

Non-point source are those which arrive from different sources of origin. The
contaminants enter into groundwater/surface water and arrive in the
environment from different non-identifiable sources. eg leaching out of
nitrogen compounds from fertilized agricultural lands.
Major sources
1. Industrial waste:
⚫ Contains toxic chemicals and pollutants
which can cause water and air pollution
and damage to us and our environment.
⚫ Lead, mercury, sulfur, asbestos, nitrates,
and many other harmful chemicals.
⚫ Many industries do not have proper waste
management systems and drain the waste
into the freshwater which goes into rivers,
canals, and later into the sea.

Effect: Change the color of water, increase

the amount of minerals, cause eutrophication,
change the temperature of water, and cause
serious hazards to water organisms.
 2. Sewage and wastewater:
⚫ The sewage and wastewater that is produced by each household are
chemically treated and released into the sea with fresh water.
⚫ It carries harmful bacteria and chemicals that can cause serious health
problems.
⚫ Microorganisms in water are known to be causes of some very deadly
diseases and become the breeding grounds for other creatures that act like
carriers. These carriers inflict these diseases via various forms of contact
with an individual e.g.: Malaria.
 3. Mining activities:
⚫ Mining is the process of crushing rock and extracting coal and other
minerals from underground.
⚫ These elements when extracted in the raw form contain harmful chemicals and
can increase the amount of toxic elements when mixed up with water which
may result in health problems.
⚫ Mining activities emit metal waste and sulfides from the rocks and is
harmful to the water.
 4. Marine dumping:
⚫ The garbage produced by each
household in the form of paper,
aluminum, rubber, glass, plastic, and
food is collected and deposited into the
sea in some countries.
⚫ These items take from 2 weeks to 200
years to decompose.
⚫ When such items enter the sea, they not
only cause water pollution but also
harm animals in the sea
 5. Accidental Oil leakage:
⚫ Oil spills pose a huge concern as a large amount of oil enters into the
sea and does not dissolve with water; thereby opening problems for local
marine wildlife such as fish, birds, and sea otters.
⚫ a ship carrying a large quantity of oil may spill oil if met with an accident
and can cause varying damage to species in the ocean depending on the
quantity of oil spill, the size of the ocean, toxicity of pollutant.
 6. Chemical fertilizers and
pesticides:
⚫ Chemical fertilizers and pesticides
are used by farmers to protect
crops from insects and bacteria.
⚫ When these chemicals are mixed
up with water they produce
harmful effects on plants and
animals.
⚫ Also, when it rains, the chemicals
mix up with rainwater and flow
down into rivers and canals which
pose serious damage to aquatic
animals.
 7. Global warming:
⚫ An increase in earth’s temperature due to greenhouse effect
results in global warming.
⚫ It increases the water temperature and result in death of aquatic
animals and marine species
8. Radioactive waste:
⚫ The element that is used in production of nuclear energy is Uranium which
is highly toxic chemical.
⚫ The nuclear waste that is produced by radioactive material needs to be
disposed off to prevent any nuclear accident.
⚫ Nuclear waste can have serious environmental hazards if not disposed off
properly.
⚫ Few major accidents have already taken place in Russia and Japan.
⚫ 9. Urban development: As the population has grown, so has the demand
for housing, food and clothing.
As more cities and towns are developed, they have resulted in increased
use of fertilizers to produce more food, soil erosion due to deforestation,
increase in construction activities, inadequate sewer collection and
treatment, landfills as more garbage is produced, increase in chemicals from
industries to produce more materials.
⚫ 10. Underground storage leakage: Transportation of coal and
other petroleum products through underground pipes is well
known. Accidental leakage may happen anytime and may
cause damage to the environment and result in soil erosion.