Dissolved Oxygen Content and its Relationship to Microorganisms

Dissolved Oxygen
Dissolved oxygen plays an important role in the measurements of the health
of a body of water as well as the aquatic organisms living there. It is a
volume of oxygen that it dissolved in water through several processes such
as diffusion between the atmosphere and water at its surface, aeration as
water flows over rocks and other debris, churning of water by waves and
wind, and photosynthesis of aquatic plants. Concentration of dissolved
oxygen held by the water can be affected by its temperature, salinity,
pressure, stream flow, aquatic plants, decaying organic matter and human
activities.
Gas solubility increases
with
decreasing
temperature and salinity
while
it
decreases
as
pressure decreases. Thus,
the amount of oxygen
absorbed
in
water
decreases
altitude
increases because of the
decrease
in
relative
pressure.
Aerobic
bacteria
and
aquatic life such as fish
must have DO to survive.
Aerobic
wastewater
treatment processes use aerobic and facultative bacteria to break down the
organic compounds found in wastewater into more stable products that will
not harm the receiving waters. Wastewater treatment facilities such as
lagoons or ponds, trickling filters and activated sludge plants depend on
these aerobic bacteria to treat sewage.
The primary function of dissolved oxygen in a waste stream is to enhance
the oxidation process by providing oxygen to aerobic bacteria so they will be
able to successfully perform their function of turning organic wastes into
their inorganic byproducts, specifically, carbon dioxide, water, and sludge.
This oxidation process, known as the activated sludge process, is probably

the most popular and widely used method of secondary waste treatment
today and is normally employed downstream of a primary settling tank
Dissolved oxygen may play a large role in the survival of aquatic life in
temperate lakes and reservoirs during the summer months, due to a
phenomenon called stratification (the formation of layers). Seasonal
stratification occurs as a result of water's temperature-dependent density. As
water temperatures increase, the density decreases. Thus, the sun-warmed
water will remain at the surface of the water body (forming the epilimnion),
while the more dense, cooler water sinks to the bottom (hypolimnion). The
layer of rapid temperature change separating the two layers is called the
thermocline.
Factors Affecting Oxygen Levels
Oxygen is removed from the water by chemical reactions, the decay process
and respiration of living organisms, including fish, bacteria, fungi and
protozoans. Water temperature and atmospheric pressure affect the capacity
of water to hold dissolved oxygen. Cold water at high atmospheric pressure
holds more dissolved oxygen than warm water at low atmospheric pressure.
Oxygen levels also are affected by the degree of light penetration (turbidity,
color and water depth) and the degree of water turbulence or wave action.
Dissolved oxygen (D.O.) is reported as milligrams of oxygen per liter of water
(mg/L) which can be called parts by weight per million (ppm).

Different aquatic organisms have different oxygen needs. Trout and

stoneflies, for example, require high dissolved oxygen levels. Trout need
water with at least 6 mg/L D.O. Warm water fish like bass and bluegills
survive nicely at 5 mg/L D.O. and some organisms like carp and bloodworms
can survive on less than 1 mg/L D.O. The oxygen demand of aquatic plants
and cold-blooded animals also varies with water temperature. A trout uses
five times more oxygen while resting at 80 F (26.7 C.) than at 40 F (4.4
C). Aquatic plants produce oxygen by photosynthesis during daylight hours
but they also use oxygen for respiration. During the night or on heavily
overcast days, respiration removes oxygen while photosynthesis stops or
drastically slows down. Oxygen depletion can occur because of heavy plant
growth. Complete depletion of D.O. can sometimes be detected with your
nose. Anaerobic decay results in a rotten egg smell (hydrogen sulfide gas).
Dissolved Oxygen Methods for Determination
Over the years a number of methods for dissolved oxygen determination
have been developed. These methods have been found to vary widely in
their sensitivity, susceptibility to electrode poisoning by the presence of

undesirable compounds, and, in some

instances, sensitivity to a slow
flowing or static aqueous media.
Some methods require a very clean
sample,
devoid
of
extraneous
chemical compounds, but only a few
are adaptable to continuous on-line
measurement. The various methods
can be divided into three principle
categories:
1. Laboratory
Method).

methods

(Winkler

2.
Electrochemical
analysis
(conductimetric,
voltametric, and
galvanic).
3. Membrane electrode methods
(galvanic membrane electrodes and
amperometric membrane electrodes).
For this discussion we will confine ourselves to the membrane electrode
methods. The success of membrane electrodes in the determination of
dissolved oxygen stems from the isolation of electrodes and electrolyte from
the sample by means of a semipermeable membrane. This membrane acts
to protect the electrode from contamination by restricting the flow to gases
only, and, in particular, oxygen.
The amperometric membrane technique used by Rosemount Analytical is the
most popular method used industry-wide in continuous waste water
treatment systems. In this technique the electrodes are driven by an
externally applied polarizing voltage. The current flow between the
electrodes can be directly correlated to the amount of oxygen present in the
stream. In a typical dissolved oxygen sensor, two electrodes, a gold cathode
and a silver anode, are immersed in a specially prepared electrolyte solution
and separated from the sample to be measured by a gas permeable
membrane. The transfer of oxygen across the membrane is proportional to
the partial pressure of oxygen in the fluid. The chemical reactions that
accompany this process are as follows:
Gold cathode: O2 + 2H2O + 4e- 4OH

Silver anode: Ag + HCI AgCI + e- + H+

The reaction that takes place at the anode is the oxidation of silver to form
silver chloride. This reaction is offset at the gold cathode by the reduction of
oxygen molecules to hydroxide ions. The resulting current flow is directly
proportional to the dissolved oxygen content of the stream.
Biotic Needs
Sufficient dissolved oxygen in the water makes life possible for fish, aquatic
insects, gilled snails, mussels, crayfish, frog tadpoles, and many other
aquatic organisms. Different organisms have different preferred DO
concentrations but, in general, the following guidelines apply:
0-2 mg/L: not enough oxygen to support life
2-4 mg/L: only a few kinds of fish and insects can survive
4-7 mg/L: acceptable for warm water fish
7-11 mg/L: very good for most stream fish including cold water fish
For percent saturation:
Below 60%: poor quality, bacteria may be using up the DO
60-79%: acceptable for most stream animals
80-125%: excellent for most stream animals
125% or more: too high
Dissolve Oxygen and Aquaculture
Dissolved oxygen is considered as one of the most important aspect of
aquaculture. It is needed by fish to respire and perform metabolic activities.
Thus low levels of dissolved oxygen are often linked to fish kill incidents. On
the other hand, optimum levels can result to good growth, thus result to high
production yield. In general, a saturation level of at least 5 mg/L is required .
Values lower than this can put undue stress on the fish, and levels reaching
less than 2 mg/L may result to death (but 3 mg/L to some species).
Other organisms such as bacteria, phytoplankton, and zooplankton also need
oxygen, thus compete for dissolved oxygen with fishes. Decomposition of
organic materials is the greatest consumer of oxygen in the system.

Therefore food wastage and feed quality should be monitored as both

significantly affect the levels of dissolved oxygen in the system .
Oxygen is also needed by other organisms such as bacteria, phytoplankton,
and zooplankton. They consume large amounts of dissolved oxygen as well.
Decomposition of organic materials is the greatest consumer of oxygen in
the system. Therefore food wastage and feed quality should be monitored as
both significantly affect the levels of dissolved oxygen in the system.
Setting the guidelines for dissolved oxygen for aquaculture can be difficult,
because as mentioned above, this is affected by many factors. However,
most of the countries listed below (Table 9) had set >5.0 mg/L as the ideal
concentration both for marine and freshwater. The Philippines, together with
Australia, India, New Zealand, United Kingdom and ASEAN are among these
countries. This value is within the values recommended by Lawson (1995)
and different scientists (Table 7) which is ideal for aquaculture operations.
Malaysia, on the other hand, has set the lowest value at 3.0 mg/L, followed
by Hongkong at >4.0 mg/L.

Level of Dissolved Oxygen in the Surface Water of Valenzuela

Baseline water quality conditions at two stations of the creeks/rivers in
Valenzuela City were taken from February 17 22, 2011. These stations are
located at the Tullahan River and another at Polo River. Station 1 is located
near Azicate homes end of Ana St. while Station 2 is at T. Santiago St.,
Recommended levels of dissolved oxygen for some aquaculture
Barangay Viente Reales.
species

The above results indicate that the measured DO levels in the rivers were
below the 5 mg/l Class C criteria needed by aquatic organisms to survive.
Coliform levels were also high which reflects the contribution of untreated
domestic wastewater entering the waterways. At the Polo River, high BOD
concentration of 162 mg/l was registered. Based on observation, both rivers
were noted with high concentration of floating solids.

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