Skip to main content

UPSC PRELIMS_POWER PLAY- ENVIRONMENT SERIES ( Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD))

 

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)

What is Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)?

  • BOD refers to the amount of oxygen consumed by bacteria and other microorganisms while they decompose organic matter under aerobic (oxygen is present) conditions at a specified temperature.
  • In other words, BOD is the amount of dissolved oxygen used by microorganisms in the biological process of metabolizing organic matter in water

How BOD is helpful in measuring water pollution?

  • The more organic matter there is (e.g., in sewage and polluted bodies of water), the greater the BOD; and the greater the BOD, the lower the amount of dissolved oxygen available for higher animals such as fishes. The BOD is therefore a reliable gauge of the organic pollution of a body of water. 
  • The BOD value is most commonly expressed in milligrams of oxygen consumed per litre of sample during 5 days of incubation at 20 °C and is often used as a surrogate of the degree of organic pollution of water.
  • Its reduction is used as a gauge of the effectiveness of wastewater treatment plants. 
  • BOD of wastewater effluents is used to indicate the short-term impact on the oxygen levels of the receiving water.
  • Moderately polluted rivers may have a BOD value in the range of 2 to 8 mg/L. Rivers may be considered severely polluted when BOD values exceed 8 mg/L. 
  • Municipal sewage that is efficiently treated by a three-stage process would have a value of about 20 mg/L or less.

Source of BOD

Its sources include leaves and woody debris, dead plants and animals, animal manure, effluents from pulp and paper mills, wastewater treatment plants, feedlots, and food-processing plants, failing septic systems, and urban stormwater runoff.

Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) & Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)

BOD analysis is similar in function to chemical oxygen demand (COD) analysis, in that both measure the amount of organic compounds in water. However, COD analysis is less specific, since it measures everything that can be chemically oxidized, rather than just levels of biologically oxidized organic matter.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Major Literary Works & Authors in Gupta Period

  Major Literary Works & Authors in Gupta Period The Gupta period was known as the Golden period of India in cultural development. It is considered as the one of the supreme and most outstanding times. Gupta Kings patronized the Sanskrit literature. They generously helped Sanskrit scholars and poets. Eventually Sanskrit language became the language of cultured and educated people. Kalidasa He was a Classical Sanskrit writer, extensively considered as the greatest poet and dramatist of Gupta Period. The six major works of Kalidasa are Abhijnanashakuntala Vikramorvashi Malavikagnimitra The epic poems Raghuvamsha Kumarasambhava Meghaduta Vishakhadatta The famous plays of Vishakhadatta are Mudrarakṣhasa Mudrarakshasha means “Ring of the Demon” and it recites the ascent of Chandragupta Maurya to throne. Shudraka He is a king as well as poet The famous three Sanskrit plays contributed by him are Mrichchhakatika (The Little Clay Cart) Vinavasavadatta A bhana (short one-act monologue) ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Only those who can deliver should rule

Only those who can deliver should rule “ The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” In a political system when we say “Only those who can deliver should rule ​”, there are some questions that comes to our mind that are:  1. What is to be delivered? 2. Who can deliver? 3. Who will check the delivery? 4. Who should rule?  These questions carry different perspectives as the answers to each one of them can be different for different persons. So, without thinking of arriving at a consensus, we should examine different aspects of each of the questions separately. What is to be delivered? ● Priorities are different for different people. ➔Our society contains a vast number of people having different  interests and needs. Different people have different needs and we can't fulfill the needs of each one of them.   ➔Despite of all this, there are some common needs that the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Covid-19 Pandemic and Internal Migration in India

  Covid-19 Pandemic and Internal Migration in India List of Contents Introduction The amount of Internal Migrants in India Causes of Internal Migration in India Impact of Covid-19 pandemic on internal migration Impact of the pandemic on internal migrants Impact of the pandemic induced reverse migration on economy Suggestions for improving the conditions of internal migrants Conclusion Introduction As per the 2011 census, there are  450   million  (38% of the population) internal migrants in India. The World Bank report titled  ‘ Migration and Development Brief ’  mentions that nearly  40 million internal migrants  are affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Further, the Internal migrants in India faced various challenges in their migrated state, migration path and home state. The Covid-19 second wave is presently forcing states to implement lockdown. This once again highlighted the challenges faced by internal migrants in India. The amount of Internal ...
Post a Comment
Read more