Editing Chemical oxygen demand (section)

{{Short description|Measure of the amount of oxygen that can be consumed by reactions in a solution}}
In [[environmental chemistry]], the '''chemical oxygen demand''' ('''COD''') is an indicative measure of the amount of [[oxygen]] that can be consumed by [[Chemical reaction|reactions]] in a measured [[Solution (chemistry)|solution]]. It is commonly expressed in [[mass]] of oxygen consumed over [[volume]] of solution, which in SI units is milligrams per liter ([[milligram|mg]]/[[Litre|L]]). A COD test can be used to quickly quantify the amount of [[organic compound|organics]] in [[water]]. The most common application of COD is in quantifying the amount of oxidizable [[pollutant]]s found in [[surface water]] (e.g. [[lake]]s and [[river]]s) or [[wastewater]]. COD is useful in terms of [[water quality]] by providing a metric to determine the effect an [[effluent]] will have on the receiving body, much like [[Biochemical oxygen demand|biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)]].