Do you know that waste water testing is essential for your business to ensure that it does not contaminate and pollute the environment? Wastewater from commercial properties, agriculture, industry and manufacturing units can contaminate land and pollute water. It is crucial to analyse and treat it before being discharged in the environment, besides it is important that it should be compliant with regulatory requirements.

Importance of Wastewater testing in laboratory

• The laboratory can give solutions to ensure operational control at wastewater plants.
• To ensure that wastewater discharge of industrial users is under the limits set by MoEF&CC along with CPCB.
• Saves additional treatment cost thereby reducing chances of penalty and licence ban of industrial units.
• For wastewater monitoring to prevent epidemics.
• Laboratory experts play a crucial role in quantitative measurement of wastewater constituents in different stages of treatment.
• Accurate measurement of ammonia, phosphorus, and fecal coliform to evaluate the efficiency of the treatment process.
• Measurements of dissolved oxygen, pH, and temperature in the activated sludge basins.

Harmful impact of improper wastewater treatment

• Chemical contaminants in wastewater affects aquatic life
• Bioaccumulation of chemicals in the food chain.
• Untreated sewage wastewater contains E. coli, shigellosis, typhoid fever, salmonella, and cholera.
• diarrhoea, liver failure, urinary tract infection, blindness, helminth infections, hepatitis, schistosomiasis and trachoma.
• Contamination of water sources by faecal matter, chemical contaminants.

A glance at few industries which requires wastewater testing

• Brewery, winery, and soft drink manufacture wastewater treatment
• Baking and confectionery, ready meals and vegetable production and packaging manufacture wastewater treatment
• Commercial laundry wastewater treatment
• Cosmetics manufacture production and packaging wastewater
• Fish processing wastewater treatment
• Paper mills wastewater treatment
• Petrochemical wastewater treatment
• Pharmaceutical wastewater treatment
• Textile manufacture wastewater

WasteWater Treatment Facility

Primary treatment
In primary treatment of wastewater physical and chemical processes reduce Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) of wastewater by 20 per cent before discharge and the total suspended solids content is reduced by at least 50%.

Secondary treatment
In secondary treatment BOD is reduced to 70 per cent and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) reduction of at least 75%.

Tertiary treatment
Organic pollution reduction of at least 95% for BOD, and 85% for COD, and at least one of the following:
• Nitrogen reduction of at least 70%
• Phosphorus reduction of at least 80%
• Microbiological reduction achieving a faecal coliform density of < 1000 in 100 ml

Parameters in wastewater with their limits as per CPCB guidelines

There are diverse range of parameters in wastewater analysis;
• Particulate size of suspended solids should pass 850 micron IS Sieve.
• pH value should be in between 5.5 to 9.0 .
• Temperature should not exceed 5 degree celsius above the receiving water temperature.
• Total Kajeldahl Nitrogen should not exceed 100 mg/I .
• Arsenic max 0.2 mg/I .
• Ammonical nitrogen not more than 50 mg/I

Need for wastewater testing

Commercial and industrial waste requires specific testing for contaminants to ensure that it is free from harmful contaminants before disposing it in the environment.

Turn around time

It takes 6-7 days for analysis of microbiological parameters and 3-4 days for chemical parameters

What are the Major Parameters for the test with methods

Nitrate (as NO3) IS:3025(P34)1988
• Total Hardness (as CaCO3) IS:3025 (P21):2009
• Sulphate, as SO4 IS:3025(P24)1986
• Total Dissolved Solids IS:3025(P-16) 2017
• Chloride (as Cl) IS:3025(P32)1988
• Biochemical Oxygen Demand (B.O.D) IS: 3025 (P-44) 1993 (RA 2014)
• Chemical Oxygen Demand (C.O.D) IS: 3025 (P-58) 2006 (RA 2017)
• Silica IS:3025(P35)1988
• Total nitrogen IS 3025, P-34
• Sodium (as Na) IS 3025(P45):1993
• Potassium (as K) IS:3025(P-45) 1993
• Calcium Hardness IS:3025(P40)1991
• Phosphate IS:3025(P31),1988
• Ammonia IS:3025(P34),1988
• Magnesium Hardness IS: 3025 (P-21)