Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) Testing

The Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) of water is a measure of the amount of oxygen that is consumed by reactions with chemicals in the water. Generally, a COD test is used to measure the amount of organic pollutants in a water body as an indicator of water quality.

In a COD test, any organic molecules present in the water will be fully oxidized to CO₂ by a strong oxidizing agent under acidic conditions.

• Wastewater – COD is used to measure the organic pollution present in wastewater prior to release into the environment. If high COD water gets into the environment this can cause eutrophication and be very damaging to aquatic ecosystems.