FCE 581: Public Health Engineering II

2.0 DEVELOPMENT OF THE OXYGEN SAG MODEL

The classical work of the Streeter and Phelps in 1925 presented a mathematical analysis of
the organic waste and oxygen content in a water known as the dissolved oxygen sag.
Consider an idealized stream shown with a volume element V and organic concentration C.

qw, Cw rR

dV

Qr, Cr
A

Q, C Q,
C + C/x

x X

It is assumed that the river water and the waste are mixed completely at the point of
discharge, then the concentration of a constituent in the river-waste mixture at X = 0 is
given by

Where Co = initial concentration of constituents at the point of discharge

Qr = river flow rate (m3/S)
Cr = concentration in the river before mixing (mg/l).
qw = wastewater flow rate (m3/s)
Cw = concentration of constituents in wastewater (mg/l).

The change in oxygen resources of a river can be modelled by assuming that the river is
essentially a plug-flow reactor (as opposed to complete mix). Over any incremental volume
dV, the following mass balance can be written as:

Accumulation = Inflow outflow + de-oxygenation + re-oxygenation

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 FCE 581: Public Health Engineering II

Tutorial on Oxygen Sag

1. A city discharges 1.33 m3/s of wastewater to a stream whose minimum rate of flow is
8.5 m3/s. The velocity of the stream is about 3.2 km/hr. The temperature of the
wastewater is 20 oC and that of the stream is 15 oC. The 20 oC BOD5 of the wastewater is
200 mg/l and that of the stream is 1.0 mg/L. The wastewater contains no dissolved
oxygen but the stream is 90% saturated upstream of the discharge. At 20 oC, k is
estimated to be 0.30 day-1 and k2 0.7 day-1. Determine the critical oxygen deficit and its
location. Also, estimate the BOD 5 of the sample taken at the critical point. Use
temperature coefficient of 1.135 for k and 1.024 for k 2. Also plot the dissolved oxygen
sag curve Cs = 10.2 mg/l at 15oC.

Dissolved oxygen solubility (mg O2/L; at 1 atm)

Temperature oC 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
12.7 8.2
Oxygen Concentration (mg/L) 14.81 11.25 10.04 9.07 7.50
9 7

2. A stream with a flow of 4 m3/s, BOD 1 mg/L and saturated with oxygen (D.O. 9.1 mg/L)
receives at A, a sewage effluent discharge of 2 m3/s with BOD 20 mg/L and DO 4 mg/L.
At point B, 20 km downstream of A, a tributary with a flow 2 m3/s, BOD 1 mg/L and DO
8 mg/L joins the main stream. A further distance 20 km, downstream at C the stream
receives another effluent of 2 m3/s with BOD 15 mg/L and DO 6 mg/L.
Determine the DO deficit at Point D, 20 km downstream of C assuming constant
temperature of 20 oC for which saturation DO is 9.1 mg/L. For all reaches of the stream
K1 = 0.23 day-1 and K2 = 0.81 day-1. Velocity of flow = 0.3 m/s. (Ans 2.23 mg/L)