Course: BFM 203 Water Treatment and Control

Lecture

Chemical Characteristics

Chemical Characteristics

Chemical differences between waters include mineral content and the presence of absence of constituents such as fluoride, sulfide, and acids. Percolation of water into the water table dissolves minerals in the soil and rocks, sometimes causing groundwater to contain more dissolved minerals than surface water. Water sources can also be affected by the use and disposal of chemicals by society. In fact, the influence on drinking water by synthetic chemicals and pharmaceuticals is increasing. These chemicals are expensive and difficult to detect and treat.

Chemical analysis of water is broken into three categories:

- Inorganic chemicals include toxic metals (arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, selenium, and silver) and non-metals (fluoride and nitrate).
- Organic chemicals include volatile organics (benzene, methylene chloride, trichloroethylene, pesticides, pentachlorophenol, aldicarb, dibromodichloropropane, PCBs, and simazine).
- General mineral constituents include alkalinity, calcium, chloride, copper, foaming agents, iron, magnesium, manganese, pH, sodium, sulfate, zinc, specific conductance, total dissolved hardness, and hardness.

Many contaminants cannot be analyzed directly. Diesel fuel, for example, must be analyzed for its individual components.