1. Water pollution - adverse changes in physical,
chemical and bacteriological water caused by the
introduction of an excess of radioactive, organic and
inorganic substances (solid, liquid, gas), and finally
heat which limits or prevents the use of water for
drinking and farming purposes.

2. Water pollution
causes :

3. The composition of polluted water.
• Water pollution is mainly caused
by chemical substances, bacteria
and other micro-organisms present
in natural waters in increased
amounts. Chemical substances,
organic or inorganic (mineral) are
in the form of solutions, dispersions
and suspensions. The chemical
composition of pollutants is formed
by natural factors - disintegration
of substances that can be found in
soil and rocks, or development and
dieback of aquatic organisms, and
anthropogenic factors for example.

4. • The most common
anthropogenic pollution of
surface water includes
pesticides, surfactants,
petroleum hydrocarbons,
phenols, chlorinated biphenyls
and heavy metals: lead (Pb),
copper (Cu), chromium (Cr),
cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and
zinc (Zn), and heated water
(thermal pollution) that are
particularly dangerous for
surface water with little flow or
stagnant water. Most of
anthropogenic pollution is toxic
to aquatic organisms. Pollutants
persistent in the aquatic
environment and difficult to
wear by chemical and
biochemical processes are called
refractive substances.

5. • Most of the pollution gets
into water with sewage.
Other sources of water
pollution are land and water
transportation, the use of
pesticides and fertilizers, and
municipal and industrial
waste. Water becomes
contaminated as a result of
eutrophication. The water
cycle has been disturbed by
man - deforestation,
monoculture farming,
inappropriate and excessive
farming, urbanization.

6. Division of pollutants:
• by origin:
• natural - are those that come from the
pollutants contained in the surface waters
and groundwater - eg. salinity, iron
compounds;
• Artificial - also known as anthropogenic
pollutants, they are related to human
activity - sewage, runoff from agricultural
lands, and municipal solid waste. Artificial
pollutants can also be divided into a
biological (bacteria, viruses, fungi, algae)
and chemical (oil, gasoline, grease, oil,
fertilizers, pesticides, acids, bases).
• by hazard they bear:
• directly harmful - phenols (gasworks, coke),
hydrocyanic acid (gasworks), sulfuric acid
and sulfates, acid rain (factory fertilizers,
pulp mills, factories, artificial fibers),
• indirectly harmful - those which reduce the
amount of oxygen in the water below the
level necessary to sustain the life of aquatic
organisms.

7. • According to the pollutants
lastingness:
• degradable - pollutants that
contain potentially toxic organic
substances and can be dissolved
by bacteria into simple inorganic
compounds (domestic sewage)
• non degradable - contain
substances that do not undergo
any greater chemical changes
and are not attacked by
microorganisms (salts of heavy
metals)
• lasting- contain substances that
are degradable to the minimal
extent and remain unchanged in
the environment for a long
period of time(pesticides,
phenols, petroleum distillates)

8. • by source:
• point sources - wastewater
mainly from industrial and
urban areas discharged in an
organized manner by
sewage systems,
• pollution of surface or areas
- rain pollution flushed from
urbanized areas that do not
have sewer systems, and
agricultural or forest areas,
• pollutants from linear or
zone sources - pollutants
produced by the means of
transport which are flushed
from the roads or peat bogs,
or from the oil and gas
pipelines, sewers.

9. Assessment of the degree of pollution.
• The degree of waters pollution is
determined with so-called gauges of
pollution which shows the amount of the
substance in milligrams per 1 cubic dm of
water. A concentration of dissolved oxygen
which can reach the maximum level of 8,9
mg/dm is one of the most important
indicators of surface water pollution -
lower level of the oxygen concentration
proves that water is polluted with organic
compounds that are biodegradable; the
decrease in the oxygen level below 4 ³
mg/dm causes many aquatic organisms
die. The other indicators of natural water
pollution is a biochemical oxygen demand
which is a measure of the biochemical
biodegradation of the organic compounds;
a chemical demand of the oxygen - the
measure of the content of all organic
compounds; a presence of a mineral and
organic suspensions as well as inorganic
and organic compounds of nitrogen and
phosphorus.

10. Depending on the composition of
aquatic organisms, there are several
• pure, water quality categories:
• polluted
• Class II - water for fish except salmonids,
breeding livestock, facilities used for
recreation and water sports;
• Class III - the water used to irrigate
farmland, horticulture and crops in
greenhouses, supply of industrial plants
with the exception of those that require
water of drinking water quality.
• Evaluation of the quality of lakes in Poland
in 2002:
• 5.8% - Class I
• 39.2% - Class II
• 40.8% - Class III
• 14.2% - water does not meet standards,
• The European Union aims to protect
domestic surface, coastal and groundwater
water flow. The EU member states were
required to prevent the deterioration of
the water and the renewal of all surface
water resources.

11. Wastewater Treatment
• Wastewater treatment - removing
pollutants contained in wastewater
in order to minimize detrimental
impact on groundwater or soil.
• To refine the wastewater the physical
processes are used - straining,
sedimentation, flotation and
filtration - those processes are used
to remove solid impurities from the
wastewater;
• Biological processes - resulting from
the activities of living micro-organisms,
including bacteria and
algae and plants - are used to
remove colloidal and dissolved
organic and inorganic pollutants
from the wastewater, and to process
the sludge in the way it can be used
again.
• Chemical processes - are used to
purify industrial wastewater, as well
as to remove biogenic compounds
from municipal wastewater.

12. • The equipment and facilities for the
wastewater treatment is called
wastewater treatment plant. Particular
water purification processes are
conducted in allocated devices on bigger
wastewater treatment plants where
central plumbing is in use. The methods of
purifying water that enable the
simultaneous processing of the sewage in
a simple unit are recommended at local
wastewater treatment plants due to the
fact that it significantly lowers the costs.
Those units are:
• mud drums - processes of sedimentation
and flotation take place here, causing the
release of particulate pollutants from
wastewater and processes of anaerobic
decomposition of sewage sludge,
• filters - mainly the processes of filtration
and absorption take place here, but also
the aerobic biological decomposition of
pollutants from retained wastewater,

13. • chambers - with extended aeration of
activated sediment or biological
resources where intensive biological
aerobic processes occur with intensive
participation of microorganisms
processes of pollutant decomposition
in wastewater, and aerobic sludge
stabilization,
• Biological ponds and natural sewage
treatment plants - a kind of
"ecological reactor" where processes
used in artificial sewage treatment
plants occur, and also the processes
characteristic for the natural
environment with a vast share of
vegetation (photosynthesis, photo-oxidation,
uptake of pollutants by
plants and others)
• In small sewage treatment plants can
also be used cultures of
microorganisms in the form of so-called.
activated sludge or mixed with
wastewater as a bacterial membrane,
seeded on the surface of the biological
bed.

14. • The most common unit for wastewater
treatment in the local systems are septic
tanks called rotting pits. The volume of
such septic tank must be adapted to the
features of wastewater and sludge
treatment which should be periodically
removed together with a scum.
• Due to the nature and quantity of
treated wastewater the sewage
treatment plants are distinguished in
following groups - municipal, group,
neighbourhood, domestic and industrial
sewage treatment plants.
• The degree of purification of industrial
and municipal waste in 2003:
• 2 km ³ of wastewater were treated per
2.2 km ³ / year of wastewater requiring
treatment including:
• 0.6 km ³ / year - wastewater treated
with the use of physical processes
• 0.2 km ³ / year - wastewater treated
with the use of chemical processes
• 0.6 km ³ / year - wastewater treated
with the use of biological processes
• 0.6 km ³ / year - treatment of
wastewater with increased nutrient
removal.

15. Thank you for watching our
presentation
GROUP 2
Wiktoria Waniak- Poland
Patrycja Orman – Poland
Zuzanna Pruchniak -Poland
Gloria Fernández Barbusano - Spain
Alba García Gómez - Spain
Eduardo González Anelo - Spain
Abraham González Guisado - Spain
Janet González Rodríguez - Spain
Adriana Mañero Santana - Spain
Pascal - Germany