RYERSON UNIVERSITY

Department of Civil Engineering

CVL 300: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND IMPACT ANALYSIS

Tutorial #3

1. Five million gallons per day (MGD) of wastewater, with a concentration of 10.0 mg/L of
a conservative pollutant, is released into a stream having an upstream flow of 10 MGD
and pollutant concentration of 3.0 mg/L
a) What is the concentration just downstream?
b) How many pounds of substance per day pass a given spot downstream (you may
want the conversions 3.785 L/gal and 2.2 kg/lbm from Appendix A)
Answers:

Assumptions: Wastewater will be completely mixed with stream

Steady state condition
Conservative pollutant (given)
No other inputs or outputs to the mixing zone

Mass rate of pollutants from the wastewater = 10 MGD * 3.0 mg/L

Mass rate of pollutants from upstream = 5 MGD * 10.0 mg/L
Volumetric balance at the mixing zone implies the total flow after mixing = 10+5 = 15 MGD
Let the concentration after mixing be C.

a) 10*3+5*10=(10+5)*C
C= 80/15 = 5.33 mg/L

b) The concentration after mixing is 5.33 mg/L and the flow is 15 MGD.
The mass rate downstream
= 5.33 mg/L*15*106 gal/day*3.785 L/gal*1kg/106 mg*2.2 lb/kg = 666 lb/day

2. A river with 400 ppm of salts (a conservative substance) and an upstream flow of 25.0
m3/s receives an agricultural discharge of 5.0 m3/s carrying 2000 mg/L of salts. The salts
quickly become uniformly distributed in the river. A municipality just downstream withdraws
water and mixes it with enough pure water (no salt) from another source to deliver water having
more than 500 ppm salts to its customers. What should be the mixture ratio F of pure water to
river waters? (For diluted pollutant, ppm is approximately equal to mg/L)
Answers:
Assumptions: completely mixed system in the stream
Steady state condition
Conservative salts (given)
No other inputs and outputs to the stream

Before the withdrawal, the concentration of salts can be determined by mass balance equation for
the upstream and agriculture discharge.

Concentration of salts after mixing

= [25 m3/s*400 mg/L + 5 m3/s*2000 mg/L]/(25+5) m3/s=667 mg/L

Drinking water at 500 ppm:

500 mg/L * (Q+FQ) m3/s = 667 mg/L * Q m3/s
500 (1+F) = 667
Mixing ratio (F) = pure water/river water = 0.333

3. Plateau Creek carries 5 m3/s of water with a selenium (Se) concentration of 0.0015
mg/L. A farmer starts withdrawing 1 m3/s of the creek water to irrigate the land. During
irrigation, the water picks up selenium from the salts in the soil. One half of the irrigation water
is lost to the ground and plants, and the other half is returned to Plateau Creek. The irrigation
runoff to the creek contains 1 mg/L of selenium. Selenium is a conservative, non reactive
substance, and the stream does not pick up more selenium from any other source.
(a) If the farmer irrigates continuously, what will be the steady state concentration of selenium in
the stream downstream from the farm (after the irrigation runoff returns to the stream)
(b) Fish is sensitive to selenium levels over 0.04 mg/L. The farmer agrees not to use more water
than will keep the stream selenium level below this critical concentration. How much water can
the farmer withdraw from the stream to use for irrigation?
Answer:

Assumptions: Completely mixing in the creek.

Steady state condition
Conservative pollutant (given)
No inputs and outputs of the pollutants (given)

(a) At the mixing zone in the stream, mass balance is given by:
.
Cs = 0.112 /
. /

(b) Noting that , the mass balance becomes

2 2

Solving for maximum Qf yields

3
5 0.04 0.0015 /
0.371 3/
1 0.04
0.0015 /
2 2 2 2

4. A lake with constant volume 10x106 m3 is fed by a pollution-free stream with flow rate
50 m3/s. A factory dumps 5 m3/s of a non-conservative waste with a concentration 100 mg/L
into the lake. The pollutant has a reaction rate coefficient K of 0.25/day. Assuming the pollutant
is well mixed in the lake, find the steady state concentration of pollutant in the lake.
Answer:
Assumptions: completely mixed system
Steady state
Non-conservative pollutant (given)
No other inputs or outputs

Mass balance of non-conservative pollutants is given by

Input rate = output rate + decay rate
Where decay rate = KCV (first order decay)

0.25/
5 ∗ 100 55 ∗ ∗ ∗ 10
24 ∗ 3600 /
500 55 28.9
500
5.96 /
83.9

5. The two pond system below is fed by a stream with flow rate 1 MGD and BOD (a non-
conservative pollutant) concentration 20 mg/L. The rate of decay of BOD is 0.3 /day. The
volume of the first pond is 5 million gallons, and the second is 3 million. Assuming complete
mixing within each pond, find the BOD concentration leaving each pond.

Answers:
Assumptions: completely mixed system in both lakes
Steady state condition
Non-conservative pollutant (1st order decay)
No other inputs or outputs
Lake 1: Input = Output + KCV
1 MGD * 20 mg/L = 1 MGD * C1 + 0.3/day * 5 MGD * C1
C1 = 20/(1+1.5) = 8.0 mg/L
Lake 2: 1 MGD * 8.0 mg/L = 1 MGD * C2 + 0.3/d * 3 MGD * C2
C2 = 8/(1+0.9)= 4.2 mg/L

6. A simple way to model air pollution over a city is with a box model that assumes
complete mixing and limited capability for the pollution to disperse horizontally or vertically
except in the direction of the prevailing winds. Consider a town having an inversion at 250 m, a
20 km horizontal distance perpendicular to the wind, a wind speed of 2 m/s, and a carbon
monoxide (CO) emission rate of 60 kg/s. Assume the CO is conservative and completely mixed
in the box. What would be the CO concentration in the box?
Answer:

Assumptions: completely mixed system (given)

Conservative pollutant (given)
Steady state condition
No other inputs or outputs

Mass balance gives

CO input rate = CO output rate

60 kg/s * 106 mg/kg = 20 * 103 m * 250 m * 2 m/s * CO mg/m3

60 ∗ 10
6 /
20,000 ∗ 250 ∗ 2

7. Consider the air over a city to be a box 100 km on a side that reaches up to an altitude of
1.0 km. Clean air is blowing into the box along one of its sides with a speed of 4 m/s. Suppose
an air pollutant with reaction rate k=0.20/hr is emitted into the box at a total rate of 10.0 kg/s.
Find the steady-state concentration if the air is assumed to be completely mixed.

Input rate = Output rate + KCV

Input rate = 10 kg/s * 109 μg/kg = 10 * 109 μg/s
Output rate = 100 * 103 m * 03 m * 4 m/s * C (μg/m3) = 4 * 108 C μg/s
Decay rate = (0.2/hr/3600 s/hr) * C (μg/m3) * 105 m * 105 m * 103 m = 5.55 * 108 C μg/s
C = (10* 109)/(4*108 + 5.55*108) = 10.5 μg/m3