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WATER
- A clear, colorless, odorless, and tasteless liquid essential for most plant and animal life
- Under nomenclature used to name chemical compounds, dihydrogen monoxide is the scientific name for water, though it is almost
never used
HYDROLOGY
- The study of water and its movement along its various pathways within the hydrological cycle.
- It is applied by engineers who use hydrological principles to compute river flows from rainfall, water movement in soils
from knowledge of soil characteristics, evaporation rates from water balance or energy balance techniques.
WATER QUALITY
- Water in nature is most nearly pure in its evaporation state, however, it acquires impurities once condensed and additional
impurities are added are added as the liquid water travels through the remainder of the hydrologic cycle and comes into
contact with materials in the air and on or beneath the earth’s surface.
- In addition, human activities contribute further impurities in the form of industrial and domestic wastes, agricultural
chemicals, and other less obvious contaminants. These impure water returns to the atmosphere as relatively pure
molecules through evaporation.
- The impurities accumulated by water throughout the hydrologic cycle and as a result of human activities may be both
suspended (larger particles) and in dissolved form (molecules, ions). Colloids are also very small particles that are
suspended but often exhibit many characteristics of dissolved substances.
In the laboratory:
Filterable residues – pass through the filter along with the water and relate more closely to dissolved solids
Nonfilterable residues – retained on the filter and relate more closely to suspended solids
The organic fraction of the residue for both total and suspended solids can be determined by firing the residues in
a muffle furnace at 550°C
Use: to measure the quality of wastewater influent and effluent and to monitor several treatment processes. The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maximum suspended solids standards = 30 mg/L for treated wastewater discharges
2) Turbidity
• A measure of the extent to which light is either absorbed or scattered by suspended material in water. Turbidity is not a
direct quantitative measure of suspended solids.
Hydrology
Sources:
* results from erosion of colloidal material – clay, silt, rock fragments, metal oxides from soil
* vegetable fibers and microorganisms
* soaps, detergents, emulsifying agents
Impacts: aesthetically displeasing (opaqueness or “milk coloration” is apparent), adsorption sites for chemicals that are
harmful, causes undesirable taste and odor, interfere with light penetration and photosynthetic reactions in streams and
lakes, accumulation results in sediment deposits which affects the flora and fauna of streams
Measurement: measured photometrically by determining the percentage of light of a given intensity that is either absorbed
or scattered (use of turbidimeter).
Use: EPA drinking water standards specify maximum of 1 FTU (formazin turbidity units)
3) Color
• Pure water is colorless ( as perceived by the naked eye) but water in nature is often colored by foreign substances.
* Apparent Color – color partly due to suspended solids
* True Color – color contributed by dissolved solids that remain after the removal of suspended solids
Sources:
* yellowish brown water – after contact with organic debris (leaves, weeds, wood etc.), water pick up tannins, humic acid
and humates
* reddish water – iron oxides cause it
* brown or black – due to manganese oxides
* industrial wastes add substantial color in water
Impacts: not aesthetically acceptable to the general public. Phenolic compounds, which are common constituents of
vegetative decay products produce objectionable taste and odor with chlorine. Some compounds of chlorine with naturally
occurring organic acids are suspected to be carcinogenic
Measurement: comparison with standardized colored materials, use of tubes containing standards (results expressed in
TCUs – true color units)
* Spectrophotometric techniques – used by industries in measuring color.
4) Taste and Odor
• Substances that produce an odor in water will almost invariably impart a taste as well however, there are many mineral
substances that produce taste but no odor
Sources:
* minerals, metals, and salts from soil, products of biological reactions
* Inorganic substances produce taste unaccompanied by odor
alkaline – imparts bitter taste to water
metallic salts – give a salty taste to water
*Organic substances produce both taste and odor
petroleum based products
biological decomposition of organics like SO2 (imparts a rotten egg odor)
Impacts: aesthetically displeasing, water is supposed to be tasteless and odorless. Odors produced by organic substances
may be carcinogenic.
Measurement: Gas or liquid chromatography is used for organics. Human senses of taste and smell (Threshold odor
Number or TON)
Use: Associated with drinking (potable water). A TON of 3 has been recommended by the Public Health Office
5) Temperature
• One of the most important parameter
• Temperature of surface waters governs the biological species present and their rates of activity
• Temperature has an effect on most chemical reactions that occur in natural water
• Temperature has an effect on the solubility of gases in water
Sources:
* Ambient temperature – shallow bodies of water are more affected than deeper bodies of water
* The use of water for dissipation of waste heat in industry and its subsequent discharges may result to dramatic
temperature changes in receiving streams
Impacts: At lower temperature, biological activity (utilization of food supplies, growth, reproduction) is slower. An increase
of 10°C is usually sufficient to double biological activity if essential nutrients are present. At elevated temperatures and
increased metabolic rates, organisms that are more efficient at food utilization flourish while others decline and are
perhaps eliminated. Accelerated growth of algae often occurs in warm water and become a problem because
Eutrophication will occur. Fishes are affected by temperature and dissolved oxygen levels. Temperature changes also
Hydrology
affect the reaction rates and solubility of chemicals as well as other physical properties of water such as viscosity, density,
etc.
PESTICIDES
chemicals that kill organisms humans consider undesirable
includes more specific categories of insecticides, herbicides, rodenticides, and fungicides.
Main Groups of Organic Pesticides
• Organochlorines – chlorinated hydrocarbons;
• Organophosphates
• Carbamates
* DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane), - persistent, they last long in the environment before being broken down into other
substances), quite soluble in lipids (meaning they easily accumulate in fatty tissue).
• DDT biomagnify or bioconcentrate in fatty tissues,
• Half life = 10 – 15 years
• DDT is the first pesticide manufactured by man
• Used to kill insects (flies & mosquitoes)
A) Water – Borne Diseases – those acquired by ingestion of pathogens not only in drinking water but also from water that makes
into a person’s mouth from washing food, utensils and hands
Classification of Pathogens (causing water-borne diseases)
1) Bacteria - single-celled microorganisms that can exist either as independent (free-living) organisms or as parasites (dependent on
another organism for life)
Bacteria Shapes:
Hydrology
a) Cocci : Spherical bacteria are called cocci (singular coccus). The cells may occur in pairs (diplococci), in groups of four
(tetracocci), in bunches (staphylococci), in a bead-like chain(streptococci)or in a cubical arrangement of eight or, more
(sarcinae)
b) Bacilli : Rod-like bacteria are called bacilli (singular bacillus). They generally occur singly, but may occasionally be found
in pairs (diplobacilli) or chains (strepto bacilli).
c) Spirilla : Spiral-shaped bacilli are called spirilla (singular, spirillum). Short incomplete spirals are called vibrios or comma
bacteria.
Examples:
1. Escherichia coli (E. coli) - Gastroenteritis
• Diarrhea
2. Leptospira - Leptospirosis
• Jaundice, fever (Weil’s disease)
3. Salmonella typhi or Salmonella typhosa
• typhoid fever; High fever, diarrhea, ulceration of the intestine
4. Salmonella – Salmonellosis, Food poisoning
5. Vibrio cholerae or Vibrio comma - Cholera
Extremely heavy diarrhea, dehydration
6. Shigella – Shigellosis, Bacillary dysentery
7. Legionella pneumophila – Legionellosis
Acute, Respiratory illness
2) Virus – smallest biological structures which are known to contain all the genetic information necessary for their own
reproduction. They can't multiply on their own, so they have to invade a 'host' cell and take over its machinery in order to be able to
make more virus particles
3) Protozoa – lowest form of animal life, they are complete and self contained organisms that can be free – living or parasitic,
pathogenic or non – pathogenic. Most protozoa are microscopic in size, and can only be seen under a microscope. However, they do
breathe, move and reproduce like multicelled animals
Examples:
1. Giardia lamblia – Giardiasis
• Mild to severe diarrhea, nausea, indigestion
• Also called Beaver disease and backpacker’s disease
• Giardia lamblia can be carried by wild animals living in or near natural water systems.
2. Entamoeba histolytica – Amoebiasis
• Prolonged diarrhea w/ bleeding
• Epidemic in Chicago, drinking water was contaminated by sewage containing Entamoeba histolytica, over 1400 people were
affected, 98 died.
2. Cryptosporidium parvum – Cryptosporidiosis
• debilitating w/ diarrhea, vomiting & abdominal pain lasting for several weeks.
• Cryptosporidium cannot be disinfected and it can be fatal
• Filtration provides the best barrier
4. Balantidium coli - Balantidiasis
• Diarrhea, Dysentery
4) Helminths – parasitic worms. The life cycles of helminths often involve 2 or more animal hosts, one of which can be human and
contamination may result from hman or animal waste that contain helminths. Contaminations could also be via other species such
as snails or insects
Examples:
1. Ascaris lumbricoides - Ascariasis
Roundworm infestation
2. Enterobius vericularis - Enterobiasis
Pinworm
3. Taenia saginata - Taeniasis
Beef tapeworm
4. Taenia solium - Taeniasis
Pork tapeworm
5. Trichuris trichiura - Trichuriasis
Whipworm
Hydrology
B) Water-Contact Diseases - do not require that individuals ingest the water.
Example:
Schistosomiasis (bilharzias) – common water-contact disease in the world, affecting approximately 200 M people.
- Is spread by free-swimming larva in water called Cercaria - they attach themselves to human skin, penetrate it and enter
the bloodstream
- Cercaria mature in the liver into worms that lay masses of eggs on the walls of the intestine.
- When excreted into water, they hatch & find snail hosts in w/c they develop into new Cercaria.
- From the snails, the Cercaria find human as another host and continue the cycle.
Additional Terms:
• Endemic – refers to a disease prevalent in and confined to a particular population.
• Epidemic – is an outbreak of an infectious disease spreading widely in an area.
• Pandemic – if the outbreak of an infectious disease is widely spreading worldwide.
• Epidemiology – is the study of the causes of a disease spreading in a community.
• Microbiology – is the study of microorganisms and their activities.