Water Pollution

Definition

o Water pollution means undesirable changes in physical, chemical or biological properties

of water that makes it unfit for use by human and other living beings.
o There are certain symptoms of water pollution: changed colour, offensive smell, bad taste,
unchecked growth of aquatic weeds, oily material floating on surface, and death of fish and
other aquatic organisms.

Important Facts on Water pollution

• Only about 3% surface water is fresh water
• One fifth of the world’s population lacks the access of clean water
• Over 2.6 billion people do not have adequate toilets.
• More than 2 million children are killed by diarrheal diseases each year
• Demand of water will double in next 30 years

Causes of Water Pollution

Water is uniquely vulnerable to pollution. Known as a “universal solvent,” water is able to
dissolve more substances than any other liquid on earth. That’s why water is so easily polluted.
Toxic substances from farms, towns, and factories readily dissolve into and mix with it, causing
water pollution.

Water pollutants: Types

Water pollutants have been classified into following categories:
o Organic pollutants: Majority of them are derivatives of living beings while some
compounds are synthetic. They include (a) Natural organic pollutants, (b) Sewage and
industrial effluents, (c) Synthetic organic chemicals (SOCs), (d) Microbiological pollutants,
and (e) Oils.
o Inorganic pollutants: These include variety of inorganic chemicals like mineral acids,
bases, salts, metals, heavy metals etc. They come from natural sources (rocks) as well as
manmade sources (industries).
o Radioactive pollutants: These include different radioactive substances which are released
into water from natural sources (rocks) as well as manmade sources (nuclear waste,
weapons etc.).
o Suspended solids and sediments: These include insoluble impurities like soil, sand and
other solid particles which either remain as suspension in water or form sediments. Sources
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 include soil erosion (by agriculture, mining, construction), sewage and other effluents.
o Heat or thermal pollution: Heated water from thermal power plants and industries is
often discharged in water bodies. This increases temperature of water and decreases
dissolvedoxygen.
Sources of water pollution
o Major sources of water pollution include: Nature (death and decay of plants and animals),
soil erosion, agricultural run-off, mining (acid mine drainage), municipal sewage,
industrial effluents, accidental spillage etc.
o There are two types of sources of water pollution:
 Point sources: Sources whose location can be identified as single point. e.g., sewage
and industrial effluent
 Non-point or diffused or area sources: Sources that are scattered over a large area or
that cannot be identified as single point. e.g., run-off from agricultural land, forests,
construction etc

Effects of water pollution

Water pollution has following types of adverse effects on properties of water:
o Physical effects: It includes increased temperature, depletion of dissolved oxygen (DO),
increased turbidity, altered colour, oily surface etc. This results in reduced photosynthesis
and loss of aquatic life.
o Oxidation effects: It includes biological and chemical oxidation. As a result of this

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 different impurities get oxidized (e.g., sulphides into sulphate, ammonia into nitrite and
nitrates) at the cost of dissolved oxygen.
o Toxic chemical effects: This includes poisonous effects of different compounds which
results into fatal diseases or deaths of living beings. e.g., toxic metals like cadmium,
mercury, chromium cause damage to liver, kidney and brain. Similarly pesticides, acids,
dioxins cause damage.
o Nutrient effects and Eutrophication: Agricultural run-off brings lots of nutrients (nitrates
and phosphates) to water bodies. This results into excessive growth of water weeds (chiefly
algae) all over the surface and death of underlying organisms due to oxygen shortage.
Finally the aquatic ecosystem collapse (destroyed). This is called Eutrophication.
o Micro-organism effects: Different micro-organisms (e.g., bacteria, virus) found in dirty
water cause a number of water borne diseases e.g., cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, dysentery etc.

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Industrial Wastes and Effluents
 Industrial wastes and their effluents include poisonous materials like acids, alkalis, salts,
phenols, cyanides, zinc, insecticides which make water toxic and deoxygenated and
eventually do not support aquatic life.
 Mercury causes Minamata disease
 Oils reduce rate of oxygen uptake by water, retards light intensity by 90%
 Arsenic causes black foot disease; asbestos causes asbestosis, Beryllium causes
Berylliosis and Cadmium causes Itai-Itai disease.

Insecticides and Pesticides

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  These are biologically active chemicals used for pest control. They include DDT
(Dichloro Diphenyl Trichloroethane), aldrin etc.
 Increased accumulation of these substances in food chain at high trophic level is called
biological magnification.
Control measures and prevention of water pollution
o Following strategies are adopted for controlling water pollution:
 Two approaches are used: input control and output control. Input control means
‘reducing generation of pollutants’ while output control means ‘controlling pollutants
after being produced’.
 Output control further involves two strategies: volume reduction and strength reduction.
Volume reduction means reducing total volume of pollutant while strength reduction
means reducing harmful effects of pollutants.
 Both, volume and strength of the polluted water can be reduced by different types of
water treatment plants (WTP). This includes Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) and
Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP).
 In these treatment plants, pollutants are removed through sequential steps that include:
Primary treatment, Secondary treatment and Tertiary treatment.
 In Primary treatment bigger impurities are removed using physical processes
(sedimentation, filtering, decanting).
 In Secondary treatment organic compound are oxidized by biological oxidation (in
presence of bacteria).
 In Tertiary treatment, the remaining impurities are oxidized by chemical oxidants
and disinfection is done by UV-rays, ozone etc.

Waste water Treatment

Waste water treatment process can be conveniently classified as below:

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Preliminary Treatment
It involves the removal of floating material, settleable inorganic solids and greasy materials.
 Screeners- Device with opening and further classified as coarse (75-150mm), medium
(20-70mm) and fine (< 20 mm)
 Shredder- Special device that cut and retain floating and suspended material
 Grit Chambers- Heavy inorganic material can be removed. Based on principle of
sedimentation
 Skimming Tank- Greasy material can be removed using skimming tank which is divided
into 3 compartments.

Primary Treatment
 It is aimed at removal of suspended organic solids that can not be removed in preliminary
treatment. It involves the process of sedimentation
 Sedimentation is the separation from water by gravitational settling if suspended particles
are heavier than water
 Sedimentation tank have inlet zone, settling zone, outlet zone and sludge zone
 Chemicals are added to aid sedimentation such as: alum, iron salts, lime etc.

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Secondary/Biological Treatment
 It is required to remove dissolved and fine colloidal organic matter. This process involves
the use of microorganisms that decompose the unstable organic matter to stable inorganic
forms.

Aerobic Suspended growth Treatment Process

 Activated sludge process: The sewage containing organic matter with microorganism is
aerated in an aeration tank.
Advantage: Cost-effective, sludge has higher fertilizer value

Organic Matter + O2 CO2 + NH3 + H2O + New Cells

 Aerated Lagoon: They are also known as aerated ponds, are the facultative stabilization
ponds where in surface aerators are installed to overcome bad odors.

Aerobic Attached Growth Treatment Process

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  Trickling Filters: It has a bed of coarse, hard, porous material over which sewage is
percolated or trickled and microorganisms attached to medium degrade the organic
matter.
 Packed bed reactors: A reactor is packed with a medium to which microorganism get
attached and form biofilms.

Anaerobic Suspended Growth Treatment Process

 Anaerobic Digestion: Process is carried out in a air tight reactor. It involves three stages
namely: hydrolysis, acidogenesis (clostridium sp., cornylbacterium), methanogeneis
(methanococci, methanobacillus)

Anaerobic Attached Growth Treatment Process

 Anaerobic Filter Process: Consist of column fitted with solid media for treatment of
organic matter in sewage. Solid media bacterium is retained in the column.

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Tertiary Treatment
Only 1-2% domestic sewage receives tertiary treatment which is the most advance phase of
sewage treatment. The tertiary treatment is needed under the following circumstances

 When the quality of effluent to be discharged does not meet the standard requirement
 When there is necessary to remove dissolved solids by Ion Exchangers
 To remove nitrogen and phosphorus
 To remove pathogenic organisms through disinfection

Water Treatment Processes Summary

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Process Flow Chart of Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP)
Industries generate huge amount of liquid waste and industrial effluents. Before releasing these
liquids to outwards, the plant which treats this effluent to a harmless form for the environment is
known as Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP).

The details of all process are described below:

Collection Tank: Commencing part, wastes from different section enter here.
Storage Tank: Wastewater from the collection tank is properly mixed here using blower pipes.
Neutralization: pH is controlled here.
Chemical Coagulation: Chemical coagulants such as Fe₂(SO₄)₃ (Iron sulfate), Al₂(SO₄)₃
(Aluminum sulfate) etc. are used for coagulation.
Biological Oxidation Tank: The treatment of wastewater by microorganisms such as algae,
fungi, or bacteria under aerobic or anaerobic conditions during which organic matter
in wastewater is oxidized or incorporated into cells. Blowing air during the process helps the
growth and efficacy of wastewater treatment using microorganisms.

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Sedimentation & Separation of Sludge: The sedimentation process allows suspended particles
to settle out after the biological oxidation process. A layer of accumulated solids, called sludge,
forms at the bottom of the tank and is periodically removed.
Sludge Thickener: After exceeding the required level of recycling, sludge passed through
thickening chamber. Thickening of sludge increases its solids content and reduces the volume of
free water thereby minimizing the unit load on downstream processes such as digestion and
dewatering. The most commonly used thickening processes include gravity thickening, dissolved
air flotation, and rotary drum thickening.
Filtration: Filtration layer consists of sand and rock bed that filters the remaining sludge from
the treated water after the sedimentation process.
Discharge to Drain: Release of the treated wastewater to environment with the check of final
load of effluent in it.
Besides it, there are certain common measures to control pollution like:
 Domestic and industrial waste waters should be discharged into rivers only after proper
treatment through sewage treatment plants (STPs) and ETPs.
 Solid wastes must not be mixed with liquid wastes and should not be thrown into to
water bodies. They should be separately managed.
 Sources of drinking water should be protected from pollution. Polluting activities (e.g.,
industrial use, discharging effluents, bathing, washing, cattle rearing etc.) must be
avoided in vicinity of source of drinking water.
 Water bodies should be regularly cleaned of aquatic weeds, plants and other crude
impurities like polythene, metals, garbage etc. Special breeds of fish, which feed on
mosquito eggs and bacteria, can be cultured in water bodies.
 Afforestation must be done for reducing soil erosion and improving local soil
hydrology. Use of agrochemicals need to be minimized.
 Public awareness regarding water pollution and its control measures should be created.

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