What are the chemical parameters of good water quality? Page 2

People who are adding chlorine to water for disinfection must be careful with two reasons: 1) Chlorine gas even at low concentrations can irritate eyes, nasal passages, and lungs; it can even kill in a few breaths, and 2) The formation of THM compounds must be minimized because of the long-term health effects. Less than one-half (0.5) mg/L of free chlorine is needed to kill bacteria without causing water to smell or taste unpleasant. Most people can't detect the presence of chlorine in water at double (1.0 mg/L) that amount. Although 1.0 mg/L chlorine is not harmful to people, it does cause problems for fish if they are exposed to it over a long period of time.

Nitrite and Nitrate are forms of the element Nitrogen, which makes up about 80 percent of the air we breathe. As an essential component of life, nitrogen is recycled continually by plants and animals and is found in the cells of all living things. Organic nitrogen (nitrogen combined with carbon) is found in proteins and other compounds. Inorganic nitrogen may exist in the free state as a gas, as ammonia (when combined with hydrogen), or as nitrite or nitrate (when combined with oxygen). Nitrites and nitrates are produced naturally as part of the nitrogen cycle, when a bacteria 'production line' breaks down toxic ammonia wastes first into nitrite, and then into nitrate. Sources of nitrites and nitrates Nitrites are relatively short-lived because they're quickly converted to nitrates by bacteria. Nitrites produce a serious illness (brown blood disease) in fish, even though they don't exist for very long in the environment. Nitrites also react directly with hemoglobin in human blood to produce methemoglobin, which destroys the ability of blood cells to transport oxygen.

This condition is especially serious in babies under three months of age as it causes a condition known as methemoglobinemia or "blue baby" disease. Water with nitrite levels exceeding 1.0 mg/L should not be given to babies. Nitrite concentrations in drinking water seldom exceed 0.1 mg/L. Nitrate is a major ingredient of farm fertilizer and is necessary for crop production. When it rains, varying nitrate amounts wash from farmland into nearby waterways. Nitrates also get into waterways from lawn fertilizer run-off, leaking septic tanks and cesspools, manure from farm livestock, animal wastes (including fish and birds), and discharges from car exhausts. Nitrates stimulate the growth of plankton and waterweeds that provide food for fish. This may increase the fish population.

However, if algae grow too wildly, oxygen levels will be reduced and fish will die. Nitrates can be reduced to toxic nitrites in the human intestine, and many babies have been seriously poisoned by well water containing high levels of nitrate-nitrogen. The U.S. Public Health Service has established 10 mg/L of nitrate-nitrogen as the maximum contamination level allowed in public drinking water. Effects of nitrates and nitrites on fish and aquatic life Nitrate-nitrogen levels below 90 mg/L and nitrite levels below 0.5 mg/L seem to have no effect on warm-water fish*, but salmon and other cold-water fish are more sensitive. The recommended nitrite minimum for salmon is 0.06 mg/L. Dissolved oxygen (DO, pronounced dee-oh) is oxygen that is dissolved in water. It gets there by diffusion from the surrounding air; aeration of water that has tumbled over falls and rapids; and as a waste product of photosynthesis.

Fish and aquatic animals cannot split oxygen from water (H2O) or other oxygen-containing compounds. Only green plants and some bacteria can do that through photosynthesis and similar processes. Virtually all the oxygen we breathe is manufactured by green plants. A total of three-fourths of the earth's oxygen supply is produced by phytoplankton in the oceans. If water is too warm, there may not be enough oxygen in it. When there are too many bacteria or aquatic animals in the area, they may overpopulate, using DO in great amounts.

Oxygen levels also can be reduced through over-fertilization of water plants by run-off from farm fields containing phosphates and nitrates (the ingredients in fertilizers). Under these conditions, the numbers and size of water plants increase a great deal. Then, if the weather becomes cloudy for several days, respiring plants will use much of the available DO. When these plants die, they become food for bacteria, which in turn multiply and use large amounts of oxygen. How much does an aquatic organism need depend upon its species, its physical state, water temperature, pollutants present, and more? Consequently, it's impossible to accurately predict minimum DO levels for specific fish and aquatic animals. For example, at 5 C (41 F), trout use about 50-60 milligrams (mg) of oxygen per hour; at 25 C (77 F), they may need five or six times that amount. Fish are cold-blooded animals, so they use more oxygen at higher temperatures when their metabolic rate increases.