Drinking Water Treatment
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Importance of water
Looking at water, you might think that it's the most
simple thing around.
Pure water is colorless, odorless, and tasteless.
Where there is water there is life
“Water is life”
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AT IS IT ABOUT WATER THAT MAKES IT SO IMPORTAN
Water is of major importance to all living things.
Up to 60 percent of the human body is Water.
Therefore the quality of Water we drink is very
important.
The Drinking Water should be totally clean, pure and
free of any disease causing MICROBES, and that’s why
it should be properly Treated and DISINFECTED before
using it for drinking purpose.
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Where does the water come from?
surface waters (lakes, rivers, and reservoirs)
groundwater (wells).
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Surface Water Treatment Plant
Coagulant, pH Adjustment
Ozonation Disinfectant (Cl2, NaOCl)
Raw Water Mixing Flocculation Filtration
Storage Sedimentation
Clear Well
Distribution
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Water Treatment
Water treatment transforms raw surface and
groundwater into safe drinking water.
Water treatment involves two major processes: physical
removal of solids and chemical disinfection.
COAGULATION:
Coagulation removes dirt and other particles suspended in water. WATER
alum and other chemicals are added to water to form tiny sticky TOWARDS
particles called “floc” which attract the dirt particles. The combined SEDIMENTATION
weight of the dirt and the alums (floc) becomes heavy enough to sink
to the bottom during sedimentation.
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Water Treatment
WATER
FROM
SEDIMENTATION: COAGULATION
Coagulated particles fall, by gravity, through water in
a settling tank and accumulate at the bottom of the
tank, clearing the water of much of the solid debris
and clear water moves to filtration.
WATER
TOWARDS
FILTRATION
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Water Treatment
FILTRATION, DISINFECTION & STORAGE:
STORAGE: Water is placed in a
closed tank or reservoir for
DISINFECTION: A small amount of chlorine is
disinfection to take pace.
added or some other disinfection method
The water then flows
is used to kill microorganisms that may be
WATER through pipes to home and
FROM
in the water.
business in the community
SEDIMENTATION
FILTRATION: The water passes through filters, some made
of layers of sand, and charcoal that help remove
smaller particles. Separate no settable solids from
water.
Combined with coagulation/clarification, filtration can
remove 84%-96% turbidity ,coli form bacteria 97-
99.95%,
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Type of Filtration
• Rapid filtration - uses gravity (faster
flow).
• Slow filtration - uses gravity [slower flow].
• Pressure sand filters-use water pressure.
• Micro straining - uses fine steel fabric
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Filter Media
• Filter media should be:
– coarse enough to retain large quantities of floc
– sufficiently fine to prevent passage of suspended solids
– deep enough to allow relative long filter runs
• Granular-medium filters (Rapid Sand
Filters]
– Anthracite on the very top (least dense),
– fine sand on top of supporting coarse sand (less dense),
which lays on top of
– gravel layer (highest density).
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Cleaning (backwashing) filters
• Water flow is reversed through the filter
bed.
• Determination of how often to back-wash
can be made on the basis of:
– Head loss (pressure loss),
– Loss of water quality (e.g., increased turbidity),
or
– Time since last backwash.
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Water Disinfection
Purpose of disinfection:
To make Drinking water free of any disease causing
bacteria and microbes.
Types of disinfection:
Physical disinfection techniques include boiling and irradiation with
ultraviolet light.
• Chemical disinfection techniques include adding chlorine, bromine,
iodine, and ozone to water.
Methods of disinfection:
There are 3 mainly used disinfection methods at
large scale.
CHLORINATION
OZONATION
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
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CHLORINATION
Chlorine is the most common cost-effective means of
disinfecting water in the U.S.
The addition of a small amount of chlorine is highly
effective against most bacteria, viruses, and protozoa.
But cysts formed by parasitic protozoa such as
Cryptosporidium and Giardia can survive chlorine.
Chlorine is applied to water in one of three forms:
elemental chlorine (chlorine gas), hypochlorite solution
(bleach), or dry calcium hypochlorite. All three forms
produce free chlorine in water
Hypochlorous acid and hypochlorite ions form in solution, which
are strong chemical oxidants, and kill microbes.
Iodine is sometimes used for drinking water disinfection, but causes a
bad aftertaste.
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Chlorine disinfection (cont.):
• Combined chlorine is the proportion that
combines with organic matter.
• Free chlorine is the amount that remains to
kill microbes in the distribution system
• Total chlorine is the combined concen-
tration of combined and free chlorine
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OZONATION
OZONE is Strongest oxidant/disinfectant available.
More effective against microbes than chlorination.
But, costly and difficult to monitor and control under
different condition.
Ozonation process:
Ozone (o3) is generated on-site at
water treatment facilities by
passing dry oxygen or air through a
system of high voltage electrodes.
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ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
When UV radiation penetrates the cell
wall of an organism, it damages
genetic material, and prevents the
cell from reproducing.
Now a days emerging technology
made UV radiation to find a place in
both household and large scale
drinking water disinfection.
How is UV light generated?
Ultraviolet light is most typically generated from a
low pressure or a medium pressure lamp
generating UV light.
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ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
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COMPLETE CYCLE
OF WATER TREATMENT: COAGULATION
STORAGE
SEDIMENTATION
DISINFECTION
FILTRATION
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Design of a Chlorination Process
• Based on exposing a microorganism for an
amount of time with a minimum amount of
disinfectant
• Rough calculation of the amount of time spent in a
reactor is based on the reactor volume and the
flow rate:
• Time = volume/flow rate
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