Talk:Biochemical oxygen demand

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UK uses BOD5, Am I right in thinking that Austrailia uses a BOD30 to reflect the residence time in Austrailian rivers?

I don't know about Australia, but in the US, BOD₃₀ is frequently used to gather more information on the wastewater being analyzed, often with dissolved oxygen (DO) graphed against time. It becomes burdensome for routine use because of needing 5 or 6 times as much incubator space for a month's daily samples than BOD₅. -- WCFrancis 18:26, 6 May 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 these 2 paragraphs don't fit 2 Other info 3 Standard 4 Please correct pristine water reference 5 Copyvio

[edit] these 2 paragraphs don't fit

The following 2 paragraphs used to be in the article, but they were so poorly intregrated into the article that it made the article very confusing to read. These paragraphs are preserved here so that someone can re-integrate the worthwhile bits of them:

However, the act itself without proper technical measures could not stop and prevent further pollution of the rivers. From this point of view, the formation of the Royal Commission on Sewage Disposal in 1898 can be understood as the milestone in the development of wastewater treatment technology. This commission co-ordinated the activities leading to better understanding of factors affecting the water quality in receiving waters and to evaluation of new treatment procedures. One of the best known outputs of the commission is the BOD₅ test recommended in 1908. The famous "30:20 + full nitrification" effluent standard was adopted in 1912 which was a great challenge for the development of wastewater treatment processes capable of meeting this standard.

The Royal Commission on River Pollution which was established in 1865 and the formation of the Royal Commission on Sewage Disposal in 1898 led to the selection in 1908 of BOD₅ as the definitive test for organic pollution of rivers. Five days was chosen as an appropriate test period because this is supposedly the longest time that river water takes to travel from source to estuary in the UK. In 1912 the commission also set a standard of 30 ppm BOD₅ as the maximum concentration of permitted in sewage works discharging to rivers provided that there was at least an 8:1 dilution available at dry weather flow. This was contained in the famous 30:20 +full nitrification standard which was used as a yardstick in the UK up to the 1970s for sewage works efluent standard.

ike9898 13:39, Apr 27, 2005 (UTC)

This is good historical information and should not be lost. I'll give it some thought. Maybe a subheading on the historical perspective. -- WCFrancis 18:30, 6 May 2005 (UTC)

Done - only one year late ! Velela 14:26, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Other info

Additional info on Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Total Organic Carbon (TOC) being used as substitutes should also be included. -- WCFrancis 18:30, 6 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Standard

There should be some discussion of standards used in BOD. That is the glucose-glutamic acid standard used to check DI water quality.

[edit] Please correct pristine water reference

How can modern pristine waters have a BOD of 1 or less when the Limit of Detection is 2 mg/L???

Because the limit of detection relates to conventional run-of-the-mill analysis. By using larger volumes, more precise methodologies and more replicates it is possible to extend the limit of detection to below the 1 mg/l level. It is always worth bearing in mind the statistical as well as the biological and chemical limitations of tests such as BOD. Velela 14:17, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Copyvio

I revert a copyvio of this page. Mateus Hidalgo 02:15, 7 August 2007 (UTC)