Assessment of Water and Wastewater quality

in Student Halls of SUST campus

Abstract: This work aimed at determining the present water and

wastewater condition in the students’ halls of SUST campus situated at
kumargaon, Sylhet. Samples were taken from - Shahid Janani Jahanara
Imam Hall, Begum Sirajunnesa Chowdhury Hall, Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman Hall and Shahporan Hall. Ground water is extracted
for various purposes in these halls. Drinking water and kitchen sullage
was used as water and wastewater sample respectively. 11 parameters
were considered: pH, CO2 , Turbidity, Total Alkalinity as CaCO3, Iron,
Manganese, Hardness as CaCO3, Chloride, TS, DS &SS, BOD, COD.
This analysis reveals the good quality of water and difference in strength
of wastewater of the sources that needs further treatment.

Keywords: Groundwater, water and wastewater quality, parameters,

SUST hall.

Introduction: Mankind uses ground water for domestic, industrial and

irrigation purpose. Ground water consumption is increasing day by day
because of the increase in population and the accelerated pace of
industrialization.1 In Sylhet city people are very much dependent on
ground water rather than surface water as water table is high. Even in
SUST campus, groundwater supply is provided. According to WHO,
about 80% of all the diseases in human beings are caused by water.1
Groundwater in rich in minerals which are good for health. Besides,
groundwater is free from pathogenic micro-organisms. Although,
groundwater is not polluted easily, it is important to assess the quality of
groundwater to see if all the required parameters are present and in
adequate amount.

Study area: Shahjalal University of Science and Technology(SUST) is

located at the north eastern part of Bangladesh, having Latitude 24° 54'
43.38" N and Longitude 91° 49' 56.02" E. It covers an area of 320 acres.
The study was performed on four students’ halls o the university- Shahid
Janani Jahanara Imam Hall, Begum Sirajunnesa Chowdhury Hall,
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall and Shahporan Hall and
they provides groundwater supply to thousands of students residing.

Figure: Study area

Materials and methods: Four samples were tested, each from different
hall at Water Supply and Sewerage Engineering Laboratory of
department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
For water quality evaluation; following materials and methods were
used for each experiment-
Parameter Materials used Methods/Equipments
pH Buffer solution(two type) Electrometric
pH meter

CO2 Phenolphthalein Indicator Titrimetric

Standard N/44 sodium
hydroxide
Turbidity Portable turbidity meter Turbidity meter2
Total alkalinity Phenolphthalein indicator Titrimetric
As CaCO3 Standard 0.02 N sulfuric
acid
Methyl orange indicator
Iron Dilute hydrochloric acid UV-VIS
Potassium Thiocyanate
Standard Iron solution for
prepared curve
Manganese Standard manganese sulfate UV-VIS
solution
Dilute Nitric acid
Silver Nitrate solution
Ammonium per sulfate
crystals
Hardness as CaCO3 0.02N Sulfuric acid Titrimetric
Methyl orange Indicator
Soda reagent
Chloride Phenolphthalein Indicator Titrimetric
Methyl Orange indicator
Potassium chromate
indicator
Silver nitrate solution
0.02N Sulfuric acid
For Wastewater quality evaluation; following materials and methods
were used for each experiment-
Parameter Materials used Methods/Equipments
Total Solids - Evaporation2
Dissolved Solids - Filtration and
evaporation2
Suspended Solids - Filtration and
evaporation2
BOD(5) Manganous sulfate solution Winkler method
Alkaline potassium iodide
solution
0.025N sodium thiosulfate
Starch solution Indicator
Concentration sulfuric acid
COD Dilute sulfuric acid Titrimetric
Standard potassium
permanganate
Standard ammonium
oxalate

Results and Discussions:

The experimented results can be tabulated as below:
Parameters Bangaban- Sirajun- Shah- Jahan- BD WHO
dhu Hall nesa poran ara Standard Standard
Chow- Hall Imam
dhury Hall
Hall
pH 7.22 6.69 7.727 7.54 - 6.5-8.52
CO2 (mg/L) 10.5 32.4 12.25 6.67 50 50
Turbidity 17.81 2.943 18.61 21.62 25 10
(NTU)
Total 48.5 21 50 64.67 20-1002 20-1002
Alkalinity
 (mg/L as
CaCO3)
Iron (mg/L) 0.16 0.093 0.16 0.44 0.3 0.1
Manganese 0.01 0.048 0.3 0.031 0.1 0.4
(mg/L)
Hardness 72 70 55 80 200-5002 -
(mg/L as
CaCO3)
Chloride 5 9 5 8 250 250
(mg/L)
TS,DS& TS 433 833 431 690 - -
SS DS 361 587 245 490 1500 500
(mg/L) SS 72 246 186 200 - -
BOD(5) (mg/L) 74.6 456 228 72 - -
COD (mg/L) 180.5 330 625 176 - -

pH value obtained from three halls were above 7 and one was
below 7. That indicates slight basicity of water of Bangabandhu,
Janahara Imam, Shahporan Hall and slight acidity of Sirajunnesa
Chowdhury hall. However, all of them meet WHO standard for drinking
water.
As it happens, pH value was below 7 for Sirajunnesa
Chowdhury hall, so it is evident that the concentration of CO2 will be
more in this case, which actually happened. All the halls provide water
with less concentration of CO2 than the permissible one.
Turbidity measured in NTU was also satisfactory considering
Bangladesh standard.
Bangabandhu, Janahara Imam & Shahporan Hall water
produces alkalinity due to bicarbonate and Sirajunnesa Chowdhury hall
water produces alkalinity due to hydroxide and carbonate ion. This
shows relation between alkalinity and pH. However, standard was
satisfied here also.
 From hardness test, it was found that all the values lied
between (50-150)mg/l as CaCO3 which is ranged for moderately hard
water.
Because of the presence of iron removal plant, the iron
concentration is much lower comparing the standard value. But Jahanara
Imam hall water exceeds the standard concentration. Manganese
concentration can be said to be okay if WHO standard is considered.
Chloride concentration is high in ground waters, where the
temperature is high and rainfall is less.1 As the studied area is opposite
to this, the concentration is much low; having values less than 10 mg/l.
While testing kitchen sullages from different halls, conflicting
data were obtained. Normally, it is known that, SS ≈ BOD(5) and COD ≈
1.25 to 2.5 times BOD(5). As the experiments of SS, BOD(5) and COD
were done on different days, they show poor correlation. The working
condition in kitchen at the collection time created the difference.
However, the dissolved solid content was more than suspended content
when every time total solid was considered.

Conclusion: All the parameters were compared to the standard value

and found out that the supplied groundwater satisfies all the criteria or
for safe and drinkable water in these halls except that the iron content
found on Jahanara Imam hall was slightly more than the standard one.
So, they can be conveniently used for drinking, cooking, washing or
other purposes but sufficient measured should be taken for controlling
iron content for Jahanara Imam hall. As the wastewater samples
exhibited different values for corresponding parameters, it is required
that more tests are performed to get a clear idea about the strength of
sewage and to plan for treatment accordingly.
References:
1.Journal: [1] Ramakrishnaiah CR, Sadashivaiah C, Ranganna G.
Assessment of water quality index for the groundwater in Tumkur
Taluk, Karnataka State, India. Journal of Chemistry. 2009;6(2):523-30.
2.Web: [2] Water Quality Parameters Bangladesh Standards & WHO
Guide Lines, https://www.dphe.gov.bd . Article Id:125.