Water treatment

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For medical water treatment, see Water cure (therapy).

Dalecarlia Water Treatment Plant, Washington, D.C.

Water treatment is any process that improves the quality of water to make it more acceptable for a
specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow
maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, including being safely returned to the
environment. Water treatment removes contaminants and undesirable components, or reduces their
concentration so that the water becomes fit for its desired end-use.

Contents

 1Treatment for drinking water production

o 1.1Processes
 2Polluted water handling
o 2.1Industrial water and wastewater treatment
 3Domestic water treatment
 4Desalination
 5Field processes
 6Ultra pure water production
 7History
 8Society and culture
o 8.1Developing countries
 9Energy consumption
 10Notable examples
 11Regulation by the US government
o 11.1Drinking water
o 11.2Wastewater
 12See also
 13References
 14Further reading
 15External links

Treatment for drinking water production[edit]

Main article: Water purification
Treatment for drinking water production involves the removal of contaminants from raw water to
produce water that is pure enough for human consumption without any short term or long term risk
of any adverse health effect. Substances that are removed during the process of drinking water
treatment include suspended solids, bacteria, algae, viruses, fungi, and minerals such
as iron and manganese.
The processes involved in removing the contaminants include physical processes such
as settling and filtration, chemical processes such as disinfection and coagulation and biological
processes such as slow sand filtration.
Measures taken to ensure water quality not only relate to the treatment of the water, but to its
conveyance and distribution after treatment. It is therefore common practice to keep residual
disinfectants in the treated water to kill bacteriological contamination during distribution.
World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines are a general set of standards intended to apply where
better local standards are not implemented. More rigorous standards apply across Europe, the USA
and in most other developed countries. followed throughout the world for drinking water quality
requirements.
Processes[edit]

Empty aeration tank for iron precipitation

Tanks with sand filters to remove precipitated iron (not working at the time)

A combination selected from the following processes is used for municipal drinking water treatment
worldwide:

 Pre-chlorination for algae control and arresting biological growth

  Aeration along with pre-chlorination for removal of dissolved iron
when present with small amounts relatively of manganese
 Coagulation for flocculation or slow-sand filtration
 Coagulant aids, also known as polyelectrolytes – to improve
coagulation and for more robust floc formation
 Sedimentation for solids separation that is the removal of
suspended solids trapped in the floc
 Filtration to remove particles from water either by passage through
a sand bed that can be washed and reused or by passage through
a purpose designed filter that may be washable.
 Disinfection for killing bacteria viruses and other pathogens.
Technologies for potable water and other uses are well developed, and generalized designs are
available from which treatment processes can be selected for pilot testing on the specific source
water. In addition, a number of private companies provide patented technological solutions for the
treatment of specific contaminants. Automation of water and waste-water treatment is common in
the developed world. Source water quality through the seasons, scale, and environmental impact
can dictate capital costs and operating costs. End use of the treated water dictates the necessary
quality monitoring technologies, and locally available skills typically dictate the level of automation
adopted.

Constituent Unit Processes

Turbidity and particles Coagulation/ flocculation, sedimentation, granular filtration

Major dissolved inorganics Softening, aeration, membranes

Minor dissolved inorganics Membranes

Pathogens Sedimentation, filtration, disinfection

Major dissolved organics Membranes, adsorption

Polluted water handling[edit]

Main article: Wastewater treatment
A sewage treatment plant in northern Portugal.

Wastewater treatment is the process that removes the majority of the contaminants from wastewater
or sewage and produces both a liquid effluent suitable for disposal to the natural environment and
a sludge. Biological processes can be employed in the treatment of wastewater and these processes
may include, for example, aerated lagoons, activated sludge or slow sand filters. To be effective,
sewage must be conveyed to a treatment plant by appropriate pipes and infrastructure and the
process itself must be subject to regulation and controls. Some wastewaters require different and
sometimes specialized treatment methods. At the simplest level, treatment of sewage and most
wastewaters is carried out through separation of solids from liquids, usually by sedimentation. By
progressively converting dissolved material into solids, usually a biological floc, which is then settled
out, an effluent stream of increasing purity is produced.[1][2]
Industrial water and wastewater treatment[edit]
Main articles: Industrial water treatment and Industrial wastewater treatment
Two of the main processes of industrial water treatment are boiler water treatment and cooling water
treatment. A large amount of proper water treatment can lead to the reaction of solids and bacteria
within pipe work and boiler housing. Steam boilers can suffer from scale or corrosion when left
untreated. Scale deposits can lead to weak and dangerous machinery, while additional fuel is
required to heat the same level of water because of the rise in thermal resistance. Poor quality dirty
water can become a breeding ground for bacteria such as Legionella causing a risk to public health.
With the proper treatment, a significant proportion of industrial on-site wastewater might be reusable.
This can save money in three ways: lower charges for lower water consumption, lower charges for
the smaller volume of effluent water discharged and lower energy costs due to the recovery of heat
in recycled wastewater.
Corrosion in low pressure boilers can be caused by dissolved oxygen, acidity and excessive
alkalinity. Water treatment therefore should remove the dissolved oxygen and maintain the boiler
water with the appropriate pH and alkalinity levels. Without effective water treatment, a cooling water
system can suffer from scale formation, corrosion and fouling and may become a breeding ground
for harmful bacteria. This reduces efficiency, shortens plant life and makes operations unreliable and
unsafe.[3]

Domestic water treatment[edit]

Water supplied to domestic properties may be further treated before use, often using an in-line
treatment process. Such treatments can include water softening or ion exchange. Many proprietary
systems also claim to remove residual disinfectants and heavy metal ions.[citation needed]

Desalination[edit]
Main article: Desalination
Saline water can be treated to yield fresh water. Two main processes are used, reverse
osmosis or distillation.[4] Both methods require more energy than water treatment of local surface
waters, and are usually only used in coastal areas or where water such as groundwater has high
salinity.[5]

Field processes[edit]
Main article: Portable water purification
Living away from drinking water supplies often requires some form of portable water treatment
process. These can vary in complexity from the simple addition of a disinfectant tablet in a hiker's
water bottle through to complex multi-stage processes carried by boat or plane to disaster areas.

Ultra pure water production[edit]

Some industries such as the production of silicon wafers, space technology and many high
quality metallurgical process require ultrapure water. The production of such water typically involves
many stages, and can include reverse osmosis, ion exchange and several distillation stages using
solid tin apparatus.

History[edit]
Further information: History of water supply and sanitation
Early water treatment methods still used included sand filtration and chlorination. The first
documented use of sand filters to purify the water supply dates to 1804, when the owner of a
bleachery in Paisley, Scotland, John Gibb, installed an experimental filter, selling his unwanted
surplus to the public.[6][7] This method was refined in the following two decades, and it culminated in
the first treated public water supply in the world, installed by the Chelsea Waterworks Company in
London in 1829.[8][9]

Society and culture[edit]

Developing countries[edit]
Further information: Self-supply of water and sanitation
Appropriate technology options in water treatment include both community-scale and household-
scale point-of-use (POU) or self-supply designs.[10] Such designs may employ solar water
disinfection methods, using solar irradiation to inactivate harmful waterborne microorganisms
directly, mainly by the UV-A component of the solar spectrum, or indirectly through the presence of
an oxide photocatalyst, typically supported TiO2 in its anatase or rutile phases.[11] Despite progress
in SODIS technology, military surplus water treatment units like the ERDLator are still frequently
used in developing countries. Newer military style Reverse Osmosis Water Purification
Units (ROWPU) are portable, self-contained water treatment plants are becoming more available for
public use.[12]
For waterborne disease reduction to last, water treatment programs that research and development
groups start in developing countries must be sustainable by the citizens of those countries. This can
ensure the efficiency of such programs after the departure of the research team, as monitoring is
difficult because of the remoteness of many locations.

Energy consumption[edit]
Water treatment plants can be significant consumers of energy. In California, more than 4% of the
state's electricity consumption goes towards transporting moderate quality water over long
distances, treating that water and treating sewage to a high standard.[13] In areas with high quality
water sources which flow by gravity to the point of consumption, and where sewage flow and
treatment can be undertaken using gravity systems, costs will be much lower. Much of the energy
requirements are in pumping. Processes that avoid the need for pumping tend to have overall low
energy demands. Those water treatment technologies that have very low energy requirements
including trickling filters, slow sand filters, gravity aqueducts.

Notable examples[edit]
A notable example that combines both wastewater treatment and drinking water treatment
is NEWater in Singapore.[14] NEWater is a technology practised in Singapore that converts
wastewater to potable water. More specifically, it is treated wastewater (sewage) that has been
purified using dual-membrane (via microfiltration and reverse osmosis) and ultraviolet technologies,
in addition to conventional water treatment processes. The water is potable and is consumed by
humans, but is mostly used by industries requiring high purity water. The total capacity of the plants
is about 75,700 m3/day. Some 6% of this is used for indirect potable use, equal to about 1% of
Singapore's potable water requirement of 14 m3/s. The rest is used at wafer fabrication plants and
other non-potable applications in industries in Woodlands, Tampines, Pasir Ris, and Ang Mo Kio.

Regulation by the US government[edit]

Drinking water[edit]
The Safe Drinking Water Act requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set
standards for drinking water quality in public water systems (entities that provide water for human
consumption to at least 25 people for at least 60 days a year).[15] Enforcement of the standards is
mostly carried out by state health agencies.[16] States may set standards that are more stringent than
the federal standards.[17]
EPA has set standards for over 90 contaminants organized into six groups: microorganisms,
disinfectants, disinfection byproducts, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals and radionuclides.[18]
EPA also identifies and lists unregulated contaminants which may require regulation.
The Contaminant Candidate List is published every five years, and EPA is required to decide
whether to regulate at least five or more listed contaminants.[19]
Local drinking water utilities may apply for low interest loans, to make facility improvements, through
the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.[20]
Wastewater[edit]
EPA and state environmental agencies set wastewater standards under the Clean Water
Act.[21] Point sources must obtain surface water discharge permits through the National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). Point sources include industrial facilities, municipal
governments (sewage treatment plants and storm sewer systems), other government facilities such
as military bases, and some agricultural facilities, such as animal feedlots.[22]
EPA sets basic national wastewater standards:

 The "Secondary Treatment Regulation" applies to municipal sewage

treatment plants,[23] and
 Effluent guidelines are regulations for categories of industrial
facilities.[24]
These standards are incorporated into the permits, which may include additional treatment
requirements developed on a case-by-case basis. NPDES permits must be renewed every five
years.[25] EPA has authorized 46 state agencies to issue and enforce NPDES permits. EPA regional
offices issues permits for the rest of the country.[26]
Wastewater discharges to groundwater are regulated by the Underground Injection Control
Program under the Safe Drinking Water Act.[27]
Financial assistance for improvements to sewage treatment facilities is available to state and local
governments through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, a low interest loan program.[28]

See also[edit]
 Agricultural wastewater treatment
 Peak water (water supply & demand)
 Pulsed-power water treatment
 Reclaimed water
 Water purification
 Water quality
 Water softening
 Water supply

References[edit]
1. ^ Primer for Municipal Waste water Treatment Systems (Report).
Washington, DC: US Environmental Protection Agency. 2004. EPA
832-R-04-001..
2. ^ Metcalf & Eddy, Inc. (1972). Wastewater Engineering. McGraw-
Hill. ISBN 0-07-041675-3.
3. ^ Cicek, V. (2013). "Corrosion and corrosion prevention in
boilers". Cathodic protection: industrial solutions for protecting against
corrosion. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley &
Sons. ISBN 9781118737880.
4. ^ Warsinger, David M.; Mistry, Karan H.; Nayar, Kishor G.; Chung,
Hyung Won; Lienhard V, John H. (2015). "Entropy Generation of
Desalination Powered by Variable Temperature Waste Heat". Entropy.
pp. 7530–7566. doi:10.3390/e17117530. Missing or
empty |url=(help)
5. ^ Lienhard, John H.; Thiel, Gregory P.; Warsinger, David M.; Banchik,
Leonardo D. (2016-12-08). "Low Carbon Desalination: Status and
Research, Development, and Demonstration Needs, Report of a
workshop conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
association with the Global Clean Water Desalination Alliance".
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
6. ^ Huisman, L.; Wood, W.E. (1974). "Chapter 2. Filtration of Water
Supplies". Slow Sand Filtration (PDF). Geneva: World Health
Organization. ISBN 92-4-154037-0.
7. ^ Buchan, James (2003). Crowded with genius: the Scottish
enlightenment: Edinburgh's moment of the mind. New York:
HarperCollins. ISBN 9780060558888.
8. ^ Frerichs, Ralph R. "History of the Chelsea Waterworks". John Snow.
Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles.
Retrieved 2016-07-09.
9. ^ Christman, Keith (September 1998). "The history of
chlorine". WaterWorld. Tulsa, OK: PennWell. 14 (8): 66–67.
 10. ^ "Household Water Treatment Guide". Centre for Affordable Water
and Sanitation Technology, Canada. March 2008.
11. ^ "Sand as a low-cost support for titanium dioxide
photocatalysts". Materials Views. Wiley VCH.
12. ^ Lindsten, Don C. (September 1984). "Technology transfer: Water
purification, U.S. Army to the civilian community". The Journal of
Technology Transfer. 9 (1): 57–59. doi:10.1007/BF02189057.
13. ^ "Energy Costs of Water in California". large.stanford.edu.
Retrieved 2017-05-07.
14. ^ PUB. "PUB, Singapore's National Water Agency". PUB, Singapore's
National Water Agency. Retrieved 2017-05-07.
15. ^ United States. Safe Drinking Water Act. Pub.L. 93–523;
88 Stat. 1660; 42 U.S.C. § 300f et seq. 1974-12-16.
16. ^ "Primacy Enforcement Responsibility for Public Water
Systems". Drinking Water Requirements for States and Public Water
Systems. Washington, D.C.: United States Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). 2015-11-09.
17. ^ Understanding the Safe Drinking Water Act (Report). EPA. June
2004. EPA 816-F-04-030.
18. ^ "Table of Regulated Drinking Water Contaminants". Your Drinking
Water. EPA. 2017-03-21.
19. ^ "Basic Information on the CCL and Regulatory
Determination". Contaminant Candidate List. EPA. 2017-04-26.
20. ^ "Drinking Water State Revolving Fund". EPA. 2017-05-02.
21. ^ United States. Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of
1972. Pub.L. 92–500 Approved October 18, 1972. Amended by the
Clean Water Act of 1977, Pub.L. 95–217, December 27, 1977; and the
Water Quality Act of 1987, Pub.L. 100–4, February 4, 1987.
22. ^ "National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System". EPA. 2017-01-
15.
23. ^ EPA. "Secondary Treatment Regulation." Code of Federal
Regulations, 40 C.F.R. 133
24. ^ "Industrial Effluent Guidelines". EPA. 2017-05-04.
25. ^ "NPDES Permit Basics". EPA. 2017-01-23.
26. ^ "NPDES State Program Information—State Program Authority".
EPA. 2017-02-06.
27. ^ "Protecting Underground Sources of Drinking Water from
Underground Injection". EPA. 2017-01-19.
28. ^ "Clean Water State Revolving Fund". EPA. 2017-03-17.

Further reading[edit]
 Eaton, Andrew D.; Franson, Mary Ann H. (2005). Standard methods for the
examination of water and wastewater (21 ed.). American Public Health
Association. ISBN 978-0-87553-047-5.

External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Water
treatment.
 International Water Association Professional / research organization
 Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN),
Rice University
 NSF International – Independent non-profit standards organization
 Transnational Ecological Project – Industrial wastewater treatment
(Russia)
 Water Environment Federation – Professional association focusing
on wastewater treatment
 WHO.int, WHO Guidelines
 Safe and Sustainable Water for Haiti web site hosted by Grand
Valley State University

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