Water Treatment

Principles/ Objectives of
Treatment
Make water odor free and tasty.
Make it colorless.
Make it safe for drinking and domestic

purpose.
Remove dissolved gases and turbidity of
water.
Make it free from all objectionable
impurities.
Remove harmful bacteria.
Remove hardness.

removed
Process
1. Screening
2.

Aeration

3. Plain
sedimentation
4.
Sedimentation
With
coagulation
5. Filtration

6. Disinfection

Impurities removed
Removes floating mater. Provided at
intake point.
Removes objectionable tastes, odour and
dissolved gases CO2 and H2S. Dissolved
oxygen is increased.
Remove settlable suspended impurities
like silt, sand.
Used to cause sedimentation of colloidal
particles, very fine particles. Some
bacteria are also removed.
Colloidal and very fine particles are
removed, micro-organisms are removed
in large extent.
All remaining organisms including
pathogens are removed.

Layout and Components of water

treatment plant

Components of water treatment

plant
Intake well, jack well and pump house: Raw water

from source admitted in these wells through inlet

openings.
Screen Chambers: provided with bar screen or fine
screen to exclude remaining floating matter.
Aerators: to eliminate gases and increase percentage of
oxygen.
Coagulant tank: desired coagulant is added to water.
Flash mixer: coagulant is intimately mixed in this unit.
Clari-flocculator: Combined unit doing operations of
flocculation and also sedimentation. In the flocculation
zone with the help of moving paddles, suspended particles
come together and form compact settlable mass called
floc. And in sedimentation tank settlement of floc occurs.

Filter bed: very fine particles and

colloidal particles are removed.

Chlorination and disinfection units:
chlorine is applied to completely destroy
the micro-organism escaped through
filtration.
Pumping, ESR: pure water entered into
tank and then pumped to ESR through
rising main.
Distribution system: Treated water from
ESR is fed to distribution system.

Screening
Coarse and Fine Screens
Provided in front of pumps or intake works, to exclude

large sized particles.

Coarse screen ( trash racks) are placed in front of fine
screens.
Coarse screen consists of parallel iron rods placed
vertically or at slight slope (45-600), to increase
opening area reduce flow velocity.
Distance 2-10 cm centre to centre distance.
Fine screens made up of fine wire or perforated metal,
opening less than 1cm.
Possibility of clogging in fine screens is more and are
cleaned frequently.

Screen opening should have area sufficient

so that velocity through them should not be

more than 0.8-1m/sec.
Material collected on u/s is removed either
manually or mechanically (rake traverse in
front of screen )

Aeration
Aeration is more commonly used when

treating groundwater than when treating

surface water.
Surface water has typically run through
creeks and rivers, aerating the water before
it reaches the treatment plant.
Objects
To increase oxygen content for imparting
freshness.
to expel volatile substances.
To oxidize iron and manganese so that
these can be precipitated and removed.

How Does Aeration Work?

Aeration is the

intimate exposure
of water and air. It
is a way of
thoroughly mixing
the air and water
so that various
reactions can occur
between the
components of the
air and the
components of the
water.

Methods of aeration

Spray Nozzles

Water is sprinkled in air

through special nozzles

which breaks the water
into droplets,
permitting escape of
dissolved gases.
CO2 gets removed
upto 90%.
Head of water required
for functioning of
nozzles is 10-14m.

Water to trickle

over a cascade
Water is made to
fall through certain
height over a series
of steps, either
circular or straight
type.
Height of water fall
through a height of
1-3 m.

Air Diffusion
Compressed air is bubbled through the

water.
Perforated pipes are installed at the bottom
of settling tank and compressed air is blown
through them.
During its upward movement through water
body, it gets thoroughly mixed with water,
thereby completing aeration.

Trickling Beds
Water is allowed to trickle

down over beds of coke,

supported over perforated
bottom trays and arranged
vertically in series.
3 beds are used, depth of
each 0.6 m, with clear
distance of about 0.45m in
between.
Water is allowed to trickle
down through perforated
pipes on to the coke beds.
Better than cascade, but
less effective than spray
nozzles.

Limitations of aeration.
Inefficient to remove or reduce taste and

odor caused by
non-volatile substances
Chemical discharged in industrial waste
Due to over oxygenation water becomes
more corrosive and de-aeration may be
required.
Possibility of air born contamination is
there.
Iron and manganese can be precipitated
only when organic matter is absent.

 Review
Aeration is the important part of the water treatment

process which uses scrubbing action and oxidation to

remove or modify constituents of the water.
Substances affected by aeration include volatile
organic chemicals, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide,
methane, iron, and manganese.
Aerators work by increasing the amount of surface
area of air coming in contact with water. This may be
achieved by passing air through water, as in an air
diffusion aerator.
In contrast, many aerators pass water through air, as
in spray nozzle, cone tray, cascade, and coke tray
aerators.