Water Quality Standards

&
Future Needs
Prof. Sudhir Kumar
Department of Civil Engineering
MNIT Jaipur
INTRODUCTION

• Existence of life on earth depends on three natural resources:

• Air : 16 kg of @breathing rate of 22000/days
• Water : 2 — 5 kg per day
• Food : 1 — 2 kg per day

• Water has much broader influences on health and wellbeing

• Issues such as the quantity and quality of the water supplied are
important in determining the health of individuals and whole
communities.
• Water can be termed as an essential requirement of life
• Water contamination is very easy and at times imperceptible
• Contamination can occur due to gases, bacteria, minerals, metals, and chemicals.
• Microbiological contamination of water leads to many diseases shown in table:
Group Diseases
Water-borne diseases Cholera; Typhoid; Bacillary dysentery, Infectious hepatitis;
(diseases transmitted by water) Giardiasis
Water-wshed diseases Scabies; Skin sepsis and ulcers; Yaws; Leprosy; Lice and
(caused by lack of water) thypus; Trachoma; Dysenteries; Ascariasis; Parathphoid
Schistomiasis; Dracunuliasis; Bilharziosis; Filariasis;
Water based diseases
Threadworm
Water-related insect vector Yellow fever; Dengue fever; Bancroftian
diseases filariasis; Malaria; Onchocerciasis

• These contaminants become the basis for monitoring and regulation of drinking
water supplies for public and these regulations are termed as Drinking Water Quality
standards.
• The basis of most water quality standards is traceable to WHO Guidelines for drinking Water
Quality [WHO, 1 993 ]
 THE BASIC CONCEPT
• A distinction generally exists between Water Quality Criteria and
Standard as also between, Guidelines and Standards.

• While the human health water quality criteria are:

• numeric values that protect human health from the harmful effects of pollutants
ambient water
• based solely on data and scientific judgments about the relationship between,
pollutant concentrations and environmental and human health effects: they do
not consider economic or social impacts;
THE STANDARDS SETTING PROCESS

• Formulation of standards to protect health usually occurs in two stages, as

follows:
• The scientific or risk assessment stage (Stage 1)
• Hazard identification - Utilization of all available data to determine whether agent
cause an adverse effect in humans;
• Dose-response assessment - Determination of the quantitative relationship between
the dose and the incidence of adverse health effects;
• Exposure assessment - Estimation of the dose, or level of an agent to which various
individuals, or populations are exposed;
• Risk characterization- estimation of incidence and severity of the adverse effects that
are liable to occur in a population due to actual or predicted exposure
• The political and administrative stage, or risk management stage (Stage 2)
• Determination of acceptable risk: to view problem not as a scientific issue, but rather
one of opinion.
• Determination of public to be protected: to consider not only healthy individuals but
also vulnerable population groups.
• Choice of control technology: to formulate a strategy and to select appropriate
control techniques.
• Legislations/standards: to consider existing national legal framewok and identify
necessary legal strategies.
• Economics: to consider existing national legal framework and identify necessary
legal strategies.
• Risk management stage requires knowledge of the technical, social,
financial, legal and institutional implications of the standards to be adopted
and is more appropriately carried out by national or regional authorities.
PRIORITIES FOR SETTING DRINKING WATER
STANDARDS
• Water is available to consumers
even if the quality of water is not
satisfactory
• Control the microbiological
quality of water supply
• Toxic chemicals in drinking water
must also be controlled
• Consumers relies on the sense
organs for taste, color, odor and
appearance of the water.
SELECTION OF CONTAMINANTS FOR
SETTING STANDARDS
• Six criteria that are usually applied in determining the priority chemical
contaminants, for which drinking-water standards should be first established,
are:
• Severity and frequency of observed or suspected adverse health effects. Of importance
are substances that are carcinogenic, and substances which may cause reproductive and
developmental effects.
• Extent of production and use.
• Ubiquity and abundance of the pollutant in water.
• Persistence in water. Contaminants that resist environmental degradation and accumulate
in humans, or in water, deserve attention.
• Exposure from drinking-water relative to other sources such as air or food can be
substantial.
• Population exposed. Attention should be paid to exposure involving a large proportion of
the general population, and to selective exposures of highly vulnerable groups such
pregnant women, new-born children, the infirm or the elderly.
EPA STANDARDS METHODOLOGY

• Drinking water standards are regulations that EPA sets to control the
level of contaminants in drinking water
• It includes
• assessing and protecting drinking water sources;
• protecting wells and collection systems;
• making sure water is treated by qualified operators;
• the integrity of distribution systems;
• Making information available to public on quality of drinking water
HOW DOES EPA SET DRINKING WATER STANDARDS?

• EPA must
• Identify drinking water problems;
• EPA must first make determinations about which contaminants to regulate.
• These determinations are based on health risks and the likelihood ofoccurrence in public
water systems at levels of concrn.
• Establish priorities
• Contaminants on the Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) are divided into prioties for
regulation, health research and occurrence data collection.
• Set standards
• After reviewing health effects studies, EPA sets a Maximum contaminant Level Goal
(MCLG), the maximum level of a contaminant in drinking water at which no known or
anticipated adverse effect on the health of persons would occur, and which allows an
adequate margin of safety.
• Once the MCLG is determined, EPA sets an enforceable standard. In case, the standard is a
Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), the maximum permissible level of a contaminant in water
which is delivered to any user of a public water system.
• The MCL is set as close to the MCLG as feasible, which the Safe Drinking Water Act defines as the
level that may be achieved with the use of the best available technology, treatment, techniques, and
other means which EPA finds are available taking cost into consideration.
• When there is no reliable method that is economically and technically feasible to measure a
contaminant at particularly low concentrations, a Treatment Technique (TT) is set rather than an
MCL.
• A treatment technique (TT) is an enforceable procedure or level of technological performance
which public water systems must follow to ensure control of a contaminant.
• After determining a MCL or TT based on affordable technology for large systems, EPA must
complete an economic analysis to determine whether the benefits of that standard justify the costs.
• If not, EPA may adjust the MCL for a particular class or group of system to a level that "maximizes
health risk reduction benefits at a cost that is justified by the benefits."
CURRENT INDIAN WATER QUALITY STANDARD

• Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974 was first ever
reflection of government to consider the importance of environmental
issues.
• Different institutes have prescribed the water quality standards, viz.
ICMR, CPHEEO, BIS and CPCB.
• BIS published the drinking water quality standards (IS-10500) in 1983
which are later revised in 1991 as IS-10500 (1st Rev 1991) with primary
objectives as:
• To assess the quality of water resources, and
• To cheek the effectiveness of water treatment and supply by concerned authorities
S. Characteristics CPHEEO-91 ICMR-1975 BIS:1991 WHO U.S. Standards
No
.

Acceptable Cause for Highest Max. Desirable Permissible Guideline Recommen Tolerance
rejection Desirable permissible limit limit in values ded limit limit
limit limit absence of
alternate
source

1 Turbidity (JTU) 2.5 10 5 25 5 10 5 5 -

2 Colour (Pt-Co Unit 5.0 25 5 25 5 25 15 15 -

3 pH 7.0-8.5 <6.5 or >9.2 7.0-8.5 <6.5 or >9.2 6.5-8.5 NR - - -

4 Total Dissolved 500 1500 500 1500 500 2000 1000 500 -
Solids

5 Total Hardness as 200 600 300 600 300 600 - - -

CaCO3

6 Chloride as Cl- 200 1000 200 1000 250 1000 250 250 -

7 Sulphate as SO4 200 400 200 400 200 400 250 250 -

8 Fluoride as F- 1.0 1.5 1.0 1.5 1.0 1.5 1.5 0.8-1.7 1.4-2.4

9 Nitrates as NO3 45 45 20 - 45 100 50 45 -

10 Iron as Fe 0.1 1.0 0.1 1.0 0.3 1.0 0.3 0.3 -

11 Arsenic as As 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 NR 0.01 0.01 0.05
• The essential and desirable parameter are given below:
• Essential – Routine analysis (Section 3.1)
• odor, taste, color,
• turbidity, pH, total hardness,
• iron, chloride, residual free chlorine and fluoride

• Desirable – source suitability (Section 3.1)

• TDS, Ca, Mg, Cu. Mn, sulfate, nitrate, Phenol, Hg, Cd, Se, As, cynide, Pb, Zn, anionic detergents, Cr.
PAH,
• mineral oil, pesticides, radioactive material

• In addition, stress was laid on bacteriological, virological and biological examinations which aspects are
covered under sections 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4.
 COMMENTS IN CONCLUSION
• If the ultimate objective behind prescription of water quality standard must be
safeguarding human health, it has become necessary to review the procedures
for setting the standards along with a review of the available scientific
knowledge with a view to delineating the process of standard setting and
devicing an appropriate framework which internalizes the periodic revisions.
The WHO's Standards Setting Process and the USEPA's Standards
Methodology are discussed and examined critically with a view to help
identifying the appropriate procedures.
• Delineating the model approach for framing criteria / standards, economic
evaluation, updatable database, Research areas, etc. is essential for judgment
and consideration of futuristic needs.
• Standard with proper implementation strategy must be considered as an
integral part of water management system & not in isolation. This interalia
must include implementation, enforcement and surveillance programmes.
• Strategy for development of appropriate (state-of-art) measurement and
analytical capabilities as also human resource is essential for proper
implementation and enforcement of standard.
• Development of appropriate treatment tehniques for internalizing in standards
• Sampling location; frequency of sampling; sample collection, transportation
and analysis methods; disposal of waste after analysis; etc, may be internalized
in the standard.
• Defining who must comply with the standards should also form an essential
component of standards clearly identifyimg exceptions and conditions.
• Constituents of water that must be considered are
• Microbiological & biological quality is first priority due to immediate manifestations
• Inorganic & organic constituents of health significance have second priority due to
delayed manifestations and availability of time for corrective action.
• Radioactive constituents
• Water constituents may affect appearance/smell/taste and consumer evaluates quality &
acceptability on these criteria. However, absence of any adverse sensory effect does not
guarantee safety of water for drinking.

• Preferably uniform drinking water standard should be prescribed irrespective

of the provider or consumers and their standard of living, e.g. different
standard for municipal water supply. bottled natural mineral water, packaged
drinking water (PFA) although all are for drinking purpose.
Thank
You