CPD 20202

Environmental Control & Management

Lab Report Submission

Physiochemical Analysis of Surface Water

Lecture Name: Dr Amelia

Lecture: LO1 P3

Group members:

1. Saifulrizal Bin Zafrul (55102315004)

2. Thinesh A/L Saravanan (55102315150
3. Wan Muhammad Danial Iqbal Bin Wan Yazidzuddin (55102315149)
4. Muhammad Danial Bin Mohd Nor Azam (55102315073)
OBJECTIVES

To measure the Biological Oxygen Dissolved (BOD) in the sample of surface water.

To identify the level of pollution and pH of surface water that was collected.

To measure the conductivity and salinity of the sample of surface water.

To measure the Dissolved Oxygen (DO) of surface water.

INTRODUCTION

The experiment is about physiochemical of surface water. The surface water is basically,
water from the surface of any part of the planet. Example are lake, ocean, river or wetland. The
surface is taken by sample to measure the pH value of the surface water. The average rate of the
pH level of water between 6.57.5 which is neutral. Therefore, if the reading is lower or higher
than the normal reading, it is considered to be corrosive water and also water that can harm the
environment and living things. Dissolved oxygen (DO) level is the result of water diffusion from
the atmosphere and the aeration of the surface water. Other than that, DO level is crucial to ensure
the survival of the aquatic life and plant near the surface water. The factors that affect the DO level
are the amount of bacteria and excess level of biological oxygen demand (BOD) can also effect
the DO which in this case, used up all the DO in the surface water and by then will use a large
amount of DO. That will eventually kill aquatic life. Furthermore, the temperature of the water
also play a role in maintaining the DO level, the warmer the water the more oxygen molecules that
is push out between the water molecules. In conjunction, the conductivity of water is used to
measure the concentration of ion flow in the surface water. Also, ability for the water to conduct
electricity is also based on the amount of ions in the water via dissolved salt (salinity) and other
inorganic chemical. Moreover, the conductivity is directly proportional to the salinity of the water.
The total suspended solids however shows the amount of suspended particle from the water that is
trapped by a filter which can be in a various type of material. Nonetheless, a micron that are below
2 micron cannot be suspended on the filter and is not considered as a dissolved solid. Next, is the
biological oxygen demand (BOD) which is a chemical procedure to determine the dissolved
oxygen (DO). It however, breaks down the organic material in the suspended in the water sample.
After that, the water sample is incubated at a temperature of 20 and is commonly expressed in
milligrams of oxygen consumed per liter of sample for 5 days (BOD 5).
METHODS

BIOLOGICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD) MEASUREMENT

PROCEDURES EXPLAINATION

A sample is taken from any surface water

( river) at the two different place namely
upstream and downstream

1)

The water sample is put into a beaker and

measure to obtain the reading for the level of
pH. The reading must be between the range of
6.5-7.5 and if the reading is below, then drops
of alkaline is added to increase the reading of
2) the sample.

2 bottle of the water sample (upstream and

downstream) is poured and the dissolved
oxygen is measured.

3)

3 bottles are prepared and poured in 50ml,

100ml and 150ml respectively for upstream
water sample and is repeated using
downstream water sample.

4)
 All 6 bottles are measure for DO and the data
is recorded respectively. After that, the bottle
are poured in a small amount of Nitrification
Inhibitor to avoid any algae produced. The
bottle is then close with the cap and the excess
water on top of the bottle is removed and
replaced with distilled water. The top of the
bottle is then wrapped tightly with a parafilm
to avoid any water from escaping the bottle.
5)

The bottle is then kept cool at a temperature

of 20 to preserve the BOD of the water.

6)

Blank sample is measured in a bottle and the

data is recorded.

7)

Also, the Colour platinum Cobalt scale (Pt-

Co) is measured using the ustream and the
downstream water sample.

8)
TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLID (TSS)

PROCEDURE EXPLANATION

Dry Gooch Crucible + fibre glass filter paper

in an oven for 30 mins at 105 in an oven.

1)

Put the dry gooch crucible and fibre glass

filter paper in a dessicator to cool it down.

2)

Weight the crucible and fibre glass filter

paper.

3)

Attach the fibre glass filter paper onto a

vacuum set and turn on the vacuum. Then,
pour 25ml of water sample from the bottle
into the fibre glass filter paper.

4)
 After that, dry the fibre glass filter paper in an
oven at 105 and put it in a dessicator to cool
it down.

5)

Weight the gooch crucible + fibre glass filter

paper.

6)

The data was recorded.

7)
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
Conductivity is the measure of the ability of water to conduct an electric current and
depends upon the number of ions or charged particles in the water and is measured by passing a
current between two electrodes that are placed into a sample of water. The standard unit of
measurement for electrical conductivity is expressed in either micro Siemens per centimetre
(S/cm) or milli Siemens per centimetre (mS/cm). The determination of conductivity is important
because it provides a direct measurement of dissolved ionic matter in the water. Low values are
characteristic of high-quality, low-nutrient waters. High values of conductance can be indicative
of salinity problems but also are observed in eutrophic waterways where plant nutrients (fertiliser)
are in greater abundance. Very high values are good indicators of possible polluted sites. Pure
water is not a good conductor of electricity. Ordinary distilled water in equilibrium with carbon
dioxide of the air has a conductivity of about 20 dS/m. Based on our sample, we found out that the
conductivity in upstream sample was 158.1S/cm and in downstream was 132.1S/cm. This
proves that our sample has number of ions which explains that the water is less polluted. Therefor
it shows that eutrophication also does not occur at that specific sample.

Salinity is the total concentration of all dissolved salts in water. These electrolytes form
ionic particles as they dissolve, each with a positive and negative charge. As such, salinity is a
strong contributor to conductivity. More often, salinity is not measured directly, but is instead
derived from the conductivity measurement. This is known as practical salinity. These derivations
compare the specific conductance of the sample to a salinity standard such as seawater . Salinity
measurements based on conductivity values are unitless , but are often followed by the notation of
practical salinity units (psu). These are the classes of salinity we use for water:
fresh water less than 5
brackish water from 5 to 25
saline water from 25 to 36
super-saline (or hyper-saline) water greater than 36 (more saline than
seawater).
We found out that our sample has salinity of 7% in upstream and 6% in downstream which shows
that our sample is classified as brackish water. Brackish water is also known as briny water which
has more salt than fresh water but less salinity than sea water.

The pH of a solution is the concentration of hydrogen ions, expressed as a negative

logarithm. It reflects the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, in this case water. Water
with a pH of 7 is neutral; lower pH levels indicate increasing acidity, while pH levels
higher than 7 indicate increasingly alkaline solutions.It is important to consider the effects of pH
on other potential toxicants such as the bioavailability of heavy metals. Our sample in upstream
was 6.72 and in downstream was 7.36 which proves it is neither acidic nor alkaline.

Total suspended solids (TSS) are defined as the portion of total solids in a water sample
retained by a glass fibre (GF/C) filter of pore size >2 m. Once the filter has been dried at 103
105C and weighed, the amount of total suspended solids is recorded in units of mg/L. High
concentrations of suspended solids can cause many problems for stream health and aquatic life. It
can block light from reaching submerged vegetation. As the amount of light passing through the
water is reduced, photosynthesis slows down. Reduced rates of photosynthesis causes less
dissolved oxygen to be released into the water by plants.This can cause dissolved oxygen levels to
fall even further and can harm aquatic life in many other ways. The table below shows standard
solid concentrations in few sources.
 Our sample shows that the total suspended solids in upstream was 40 mg/L and in
downstream was 12 mg/L. This proves that the suspended solid in our sample is lesser and the
concentration of impurities is low. The following below shows the formula used to calculate the
total suspended solids.

Biochemical oxygen demand is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed (i.e., demanded) by
aerobic biological organisms to break down organic material present in a given water sample at
certain temperature over a specific time period. The amount of dissolved oxygen in water is largely
dependent upon the water temperature; colder water can carry more dissolved oxygen that warmer
water. When in equilibrium with the atmosphere, at this maximum concentration the water is said
to be saturated or at 100% saturation of dissolved oxygen. . The BOD value is most commonly
expressed in milligrams of oxygen consumed per litre of sample during 5 days of incubation at 20
C and is often used as a surrogate of the degree of organic pollution of water Based on result after
5 days of incubation was in range of 0.65 mg/L to 2.54 mg/L in upstream sample. Downstream
sample has BOD with range between 1.09 mg/L to 4.45 mg/L. There was range in sample because
we use three different amount of sample which were 50,100 and 150 ml. This show that our water
sample was less polluted because the BOD value was below 5 mg/L which proves that its suitable
for aquatic animals to live in that specific area.. The Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for
Fresh and Marine Water Quality set a recommended maximum BOD for fresh water of 15 mg/L,
typical pristine rivers have a BOD of <1 mg/L. The BOD of raw wastewater in Australia typically
ranges between 150 and 500 mg/L, and that of tertiary-treated sewage effluent is typically 2 to 5
mg/L. The following formula was used to calculate the BOD.
CONCLUSION

As conclusion, the experiment is conducted to determine the dissolved oxygen

(DO) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) of the upstream and downstream wastewater
sample and to measure total suspended solid (TSS) that trapped in the filter of the upstream
and downstream wastewater sample. There are different types of the devices used and have
its own function to get the result of the experiment. From the BOD result, it shows that DO
levels decrease slightly for upstream samples (50ml, 100ml and 150ml) and the range of
DO level range for Day 1 is 7.08 to 6.92 and it was increase slightly in Day 5 as DO level
range is 6.95 to 6.06. For downstream samples (50ml, 100ml and 150ml), the DO levels
drop drastically as DO level range for Day 1 is 7.18 to 7.08 while in Day 5 the DO level
range is 6.29 to 5.99. The possible reason that can be concluded is the bacteria in upstream
samples is still alive and grow up as there is still oxygen in the BOD bottles but for the
downstream samples the bacteria dies because the oxygen in the BOD bottles were depleted
and the bacteria cannot grow up in that samples. For TSS result, it shows that Gooch
crucible and fibre glass filter paper after filtration for upstream sample is heavier than
downstream sample which is 0.0935g and 0.0928g respectively and TSS is 40mg/L and
12mg/L respectively. The amount of suspended solid was found that in low quantity and it
proves that the sample was less polluted. At the end of the experiment, the objective was
achieved.
RECOMMENDATION

As we all known that in every experiment it will always occur any mistake or error
in the experiment. To prevent the error that can occurred in the experiment, there are few
ways to avoid this error. First, the experimenters must be focused and wait for the stabilizer
to finish the BOD test as the stabilizer will give the signal when it finished operated. Next,
the device for the experiment must be checked before it operates to make sure the result
will be smooth. The device also should always do its maintenance to ensure that it will
operates well. Then, the eyes of the experimenters must be perpendicular with scale of the
equipment to get accurate reading. After that, the BOD bottles must be seal with parafilm
cover properly to ensure the ambient air or oxygen to enter the bottle. The experimenters
also should be checked that the bottles contain water samples do not have air bubbles
trapped in the water. In addition, the plastic bottles should not be made from low- density
polyethylene (LDPE) as these tend to leak easily. Furthermore, it is essential that the
containers are washed and rinsed very thoroughly with deionised or distilled water after
using any solvents that been used in this experiment to remove completely any trace of
these solvents before sampling commences. Lastly, the fibre glass filter paper must be
dried well to ensure the weight reading is accurate and the result will be normal.
REFERRENCES

Water & Rivers Commission, 2002. A community guideline to surface water quality
investigations version 1.0. Water and Rivers Commission, WA.

ISO, 1996. Water quality Determination of surfactants Part 2: Determination of non-

ionic surfactants using Dragendorff reagent. International Standard Organization ISO 7875
2, Geneva, 1999.

American Public Health Association (APHA), 1998. Standard methods for the examination
of water and wastewater, 20th ed. Clesceri LS, Greenberg AE, & Eaton, AD, (Eds) ;
American Public Health Association : Washington DC.

AS/NZS, 1998. Australia/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 5667.1:1998. Water quality

Sampling. Part 1: Guidance on the design of sampling programs, sampling techniques and
the preservation and handling of samples. AS/NZS 5667.1:1998. Standard Australia and
Standard New Zealand : Homebush, NSW.