Example

A city of 200,000 people discharges 37.0

cfs of treated sewage having an ultimate
BOD of 28.0 mg/L and 1.8 mg/L DO into a
river with a flow of 250 cfs and velocity of
1.2 ft/sec. Upstream of the discharge point,
the river has a BOD of 3.6 mg/L and a DO
of 7.6 mg/L. The saturation DO is 8.5
mg/L, kd = 0.61 day-1, and kr = 0.76 day-1.
Determine a) the critical DO and critical
distance, and b) the DO at 10 miles
downstream.
 1. Determine Initial
Conditions
a. Initial dissolved oxygen concentration
Qw DOw Qr DOr
DO
Qw Qr

DO
1.8 37.0 7.6 250
6.85
mg
250 37 L

b. Initial dissolved oxygen deficit

D DOs DO
mg
Da 8.5 6.85 1.6
L
 1. Determine Initial
Conditions
c. Initial ultimate BOD concentration
Qw Lw Qr Lr
La
Qw Qr

La
28 37.0 3.6 250
6.75
mg
250 37 L
 Step 1. Variations
Flow given in cfs, not m3/s does not
matter for mixing calculations
Saturation DO given no need to look up
Ultimate BOD given no need to calculate
from BOD5
 2. Determine Reaeration
Rate
kr = 0.76 day-1 given
no need to calculate from stream geometry
assume given value is at the stream
temperature (since not otherwise specified),
so no need to correct
 3. Determine the
Deoxygenation Rate
kd = 0.61 day-1 given
no need to calculate corrections from
stream geometry
assume given value is at the stream
temperature (since not otherwise specified),
so no need to correct
 5. Calculate Critical time and
DO
1 kr kr kd
tc ln 1 Da
kr kd kd k d La

1 0.76 0.76 0.61

tc ln 1 1.6
0.76 0.61 0.61 0.61 6.75
tc 1.07 day
 5. Calculate Critical time and
DO
Problem asked for critical distance
ft s hr 1 mi
xc 1.07 d 1.2 3600 24
s hr d 5280 ft
xc 20.9 mi
 5. Calculate Critical time and
DO
Minimum DO

Dc
kr ka
e
k d La kd tc kr tc
e Da e
k r tc

Dc
0.61 6.75 0.61 1.07 0.76 1.07
e e
0.76 0.61
0.76 1.07
1.6e
mg
Dc 2.58
L
5. Calculate Critical time and
DO
DOc DOs Dc
mg
DOc 8.5 2.58 5.7
L
 4. DO as function of time (at
10 miles)
ft
10 mi 5280
mi
t10 miles 0.51 d
ft s hr
1.2 3600 24
s hr d

Dc
0.61 6.75 0.61 1.07 0.76 1.07
e e
0.76 0.61
0.76 1.07
1.6e
4. DO as function of time (at
10 miles)
mg
D10 miles 2.58
L
mg
DO10 miles 8.5 2.58 5.9
L