Nuts and Bolts of Chemical Oxygen Demand

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is a definitive indicator of required treatment in wastewater, and estimating BOD is an important part of wastewater treatment process control. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) requires wastewater treatment plants to bring BOD within limits before discharging treated wastewater, and accurate test results must be recorded for regulatory reporting. Thus, measuring BOD in treated water is an important part of the monitoring process. Many wastewater treatment facilities use a faster Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) test to estimate BOD levels.
Oxygen demand is an important parameter for determining the amount of organic pollution in water. Testing oxygen demand has its widest application in measuring waste loadings of treatment plants and in evaluating treatment efficiency. Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is a definitive indicator of required treatment in wastewater, and estimating BOD is an important part of wastewater treatment process control. High influent BOD requires extensive treatment to provide the oxygen necessary to break down the water's organic contents.