The following points highlight the top three methods adopted for purification of

water. The methods are:

1. Sedimentation

2. Filtration

3. Disinfection.

1. Sedimentation:

Sedimentation is done when water consists of large sized organic materials such as
leaves, and gravels which have run off from the soil. Suspended particles settle down
depending on their size and weight and conditions of the stored water. Sedimentation
is done in large reservoirs or in restricted area of settling tank.

The rate of sedimentation is enhanced by adding alum, iron, salts, colloid silicates
which act as coagulants. The suspended materials and microorgan-isms are
entrapped by coagulants and settle down rapidly.

This procedure is called coagulation or flocculation. The microorganisms remain

viable for some time. Thus, sedimentation provides partial reduction of
microorganisms in water due to their settling down on bottom but does not sterilize
the polluted water.

2. Filtration:

After separating most floc, the water is filtered as the final step to remove remaining
suspended particles and unsettled floc.

The most common type of filter is a rapid sand filter. Water moves vertically through
sand which often has a layer of activated carbon or anthracite coal above the sand.
The top layer removes organic compounds, which contribute to taste and odour.

The space between sand particles is larger than the smallest suspended particles, so
simple filtration is not enough. Most particles pass through surface layers but are
trapped in pore spaces or adhere to sand particles.

Effective filtration extends into the depth of the filter. This property of the filter is
key to its operation: if the top layer of sand were to block all the particle, the filter
would quickly clog.

To clean the filter, water is passed quickly upward through the filter, opposite the
normal direction (called backflushing or backwashing) to remove embedded particles.
Prior to this, compressed air may be blown up through the bottom of the filter to break
up the compacted filter media to aid the backwashing process; this is known as air
scouring.

This contaminated water can be disposed of, along with the sludge from the
sedimentation basin, or it can be recycled by mixing with the raw water being
entering the plant.

Some water treatment plants employ pressure filters. These work on the same
principle as rapid gravity filters differing in that the filter medium is enclosed in a
steel vessel and the water is forced through it under pressure.

Membrane filtration: is essentially a thin film of synthetic polymer through which

there are pores of fairly uniform size. This filters water as it flows through.

Advantages: Filter out much smaller particles than paper and sand filters can filter
out virtually all particles larger than their specified pore sizes they are quite thin and
so liquids flow through them fairly rapidly. They are reasonably strong and so can
withstand pressure differences across them of typically 2-5 atmospheres. They can be
cleaned (back flushed) and reused. Membrane filters are widely used for filtering both
drinking water and sewage (for reuse). For drinking water membrane filters can
remove virtually all particles larger than 0.2 um including Giardia and
Cryptosporidium. Membrane filters is an effective form of tertiary treatment when
it is desired to reuse the water for industry or for limited domestic purposes or
before discharging the water into a river that is used by towns further downstream.
Is widely used in industry, particularly for beverage preparation (including bottled
water). However no filtration can remove substances that are actually dissolved in
the water such as phosphorus and nitrates and heavy metal ions.

It is the effective means of removing microorganisms and the other suspended

material from the water.

There are two types of sand filters which are used in water purification such as slow
sand filter and rapid sand filter:

(i) Slow Sand Filter:

In slow sand filtration plants the rate of filtration of water is slow; hence the plant
requires a considerable area. This plant consists of a concrete floor containing
drainage tiles (for collection of filtered water). The tile is covered with first coarse
sand and finally 2 to 1 feet of sand at the top of plant.
Water is passed through this plant. Water passes slowly through the filter and
collected by tile drain pipes at the bottom which later on is pumped into a reservoir.
If water is turbid, slow sand filters are clogged soon. Therefore, turbid water, which
is to be filtered, should be clarified first by sedimentation, thereafter, passed through
slow sand filters. The capacity of slow sand filter plant is to filter about 5 million of
water per acre per day.

Water purification is done not by physical action but by physiological mechanisms

supported by microorganisms. In the surface of layers of fine sand a colloidal
material, consisting of bacteria, algae and protozoa, is attached. This mucilaginous
material makes the pores more effective by closing the pores between the sand grains.
Sand grains have positive charges and bacterial cell walls have negative charge.

Therefore, bacteria are adsorbed on the surface of sand. Protozoa ingest bacteria. Due
to intense microbial interactions, chemical concentration of water is reduced.

When filtration efficiency of the plant is reduced, due to deposition of thick

mucilaginous material, the plant is taken out for cleaning. Through this plant, the
pathogenic microorganisms such as Giardia and its cysts which are not removed by
any other methods can be filtered from water.

For the first time in 1852, parliament of London required that the entire water supply
be passed through slow sand filters before use. This plant was installed in many
countries after suffering from cholera epidemics.

(ii) Rapid Sand Filter:

Similar to slow sand filter, the rapid sand filter is also constructed. This plant consists
of layers of sand, gravel and rock. Before filtration, water is treated with alum or
ferrous sulphate in a settling tank where precipitates settle down.

Then water is allowed to pass through rapid sand filter plant. This plant depends on
physical trapping of fine particles and floes or coagulants. The pores of the plants are
soon clogged. It is cleaned by forcing cleaned water backward i.e. back washing
through the beds of gravels and sands without disturbing the fine sand.

About 99% bacteria are removed by this plant. But unfortunately the use of
coagulants, rapid filtration and chemi-cal disinfection often does not remove Giardia
lamblia cysts, Cryptospordium oocysts, Cyclospora and viruses. More consistent
removal of these pathogens is possible through slow sand filter. Therefore, water
collected after filtration needs further treatment.
In addition, rapid sand filter plant operates about 50 times, faster than slow sand
filter plant, and can delivers about 150 to 200 million gallons of water per acre per
day. It requires less land area, less cost and less maintenance. There-fore, many
plants are constructed in a chain. If one plant is being cleaned, the others are under
operation.

Disinfection:

Some of the bacteria pass through filter even after filtration which must be killed
before consumption of water. Therefore, disinfection of public water supply needs to
be done. Disinfection is the final step of water purification. Solutions of sodium
hypochlorite are treated in small towns but in recent years, chlorination of public
water supply has become popular.

Chlorination involves the release of chlorine gas in water which gets readily mixed
up with water. The amount of chlorine required depends on organic matter and
number of microorganisms present in water, and duration of time to act upon. High
concentration of chlorine quickly acts upon microorganisms and vice-versa.
Therefore, the amount of chlorine required for disinfection is called chlorine demand.

Water is chlorinated to contain about 0.1 to 0.2 ppm of residual chlorine which
reaches to this concentration after 20 minutes of its addition. However, if the
concentration of chlorine exceeds its demand, peculiar odour and tastes are
experienced.

If action of chlorine prolongs in water containing high amount of organic matter,

chloramines, are formed. Change in odour and taste of water is due to the formation
of chlorophenols. In the presence of high organic matter, chlorine reacts with it and
produces halomethanes which are a group of carcinogenic compounds.

The mechanism of action of chlorine on microorganisms is obvious. After reacting

with water, chlorine is converted into hypochlorous acid which in turn quickly
releases nascent oxygen.

The nascent oxygen soon oxidises the cellular components of microorganisms as well
as organic matter. In addition, chlorine fails to kill the microbial spores. The other
gas which behaves like chlorine is the ozone. The simplest method to make water free
from microbes and for consumption is boiling for 10-15 minutes.

Ozone (O3) is a relatively unstable molecule "free radical" of oxygen which readily
gives up one atom of oxygen providing a powerful oxidising agent which is toxic to
most water borne organisms. It is a very strong, broad spectrum disinfectant that is
widely used in Europe. It is an effective method to inactivate harmful protozoans
that form cysts. It also works well against almost all other pathogens. Ozone is made
by passing oxygen through ultraviolet light or a "cold" electrical discharge. To use
ozone as a disinfectant, it must be created on site and added to the water by bubble
contact. Some of the advantages of ozone include the production of relatively fewer
dangerous by-products (in comparison to chlorination) and the lack of taste and odor
produced by Ozonation. Although fewer by-products are formed by Ozonation, it has
been discovered that the use of ozone produces a small amount of the suspected
carcinogen Bromate, although little Bromine should be present in treated water.
Ozone has been used in drinking water plants. The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration has accepted ozone as being safe; and it is applied as an anti-
microbiological agent for the treatment, storage, and processing of foods.

UV radiation (light) is very effective at inactivating cysts, as long as the water has a
low level of colour so the UV can pass through without being absorbed. The main
disadvantage to the use of UV radiation is that, like ozone treatment, it leaves no
residual disinfectant in the water. Because neither ozone nor UV radiation leaves a
residual disinfectant in the water, it is sometimes necessary to add a residual
disinfectant after they are used. This is often done through the addition of
chloramines, discussed above as a primary disinfectant. When used in this manner,
chloramines provide an effective residual disinfectant with very little of the negative
aspects of chlorination.
The organic portion of solid waste can be biodegraded by composting, the process by
which solid heterogeneous organic matter is degraded by aerobic, mesophilic, and
thermophilic microorganisms. Composting is a microbial process that converts
organic waste materials into a stable, sanitary, humus- like product. Reduced in bulk.
it can be used for soil improvement. Composting, like incineration, requires sorting
of the solid waste into its organic and inorganic components. This can be
accomplished at the source by the separate collections of garbage (organic waste) and
trash (inorganic waste) or at the receiving facility by using magnetic separators to
remove ferrous metals and mechanical separators to remove glass, aluminum, and
plastic materials. The remaining largely organic waste is ground up.mixed with
sewage sludge or bulking agents such as shredded newspaper or wood chips and then
composted. The addition of dehydrated sewage sludge to domestic garbage improves
the carbon/ nitrogen balance because sewage sludge is high in nitrogen and therefore
enhances microbial biodegradation activities, as well as providing a means of
disposing of some sewage sludge waste and supplying a considerable number of
decomposer microorganisms.

The addition of 10% by weight sewage sludge lo the material being composted im
proves its porosity. This is important because 30% air space is needed to optimize the
availability of oxygen for microbial respiration in the aerobic compost process. It also
is important because water must drain out of the composting material to prevent
waterlogging and the development of anaerobic conditions.

In a compost of domestic garbage and sludge, numerous microbial species that come
from soil, water, and fecal matter are present. The relatively high moisture content
of the compost material favors the development of bacterial rather than fungal
populations. In the composting of solid organic wastes, the process is initiated by
mesophilic heterotrophs, which, as the temperature rises, are replaced by
thermophilic microorganisms. The initial temperature increase is probably due to the
growth of mesophilic bacteria in the interior portions Thermophilic microorganisms
prominent in the composting process include the bacteria Bacillus
stearothermophilus, Thermomonospora spp., Thermoactinomyce.s spp., and
Clostridium thermocellum and the fungi Geotrichum candidum, Aspergillus
fumigatus , Mucor pusillus, Chaetomium thermophile, Thermoascus auranticus, and
Torula thermophila. In the continuous- reactor composting process, the reactor is
maintained continuously at thermophilic temperatures by using the heat produced
within the reactor by the biodegradation of the organic. Matter. Control of several
conditions is critical for achieving optimal composting. Temperatures needed to
achieve maximal rates of organic matter decomposition are in the range of 50 to 60
C. Selfheating typically raises the temperature inside a static compost pile to 55 to
60 C or above m two to three days under favorable conditions but after a few days at
this optimal level the temperature gradually declines unless the pile is turned, to
resupply oxygen and ensure that the thermophilic process occurs throughout the pile
instead of only at the core. Moisture must be adequate; 50% to 60% water content is
optimal but excess moisture-70% or above-interferes with aeration and lowers
selfheating because of water's large heat capacity. The carbon-to-nitrogen ratio must
not be greater than 40:1 . A lower nitrogen content precludes the formation of a
sufficient microbial biomass, and a greater nitrogen concentration. such as C:N =
25:1, would lead to volatilization of ammonia, causing odor problems and lowering
the usefulness of the compost product as a fertilizer.

Although compost is a good soil conditioner and supplies some plant nutrients,
it cannot compete with synthetic fertilizers for use in agricultural production. The
sale of compost effectively reduces the cost of the waste disposal operation but
generally does not render the waste disposal operation self-supporting. When sewage
sludge is used as a major component of the original compost mixture, however, the
finished product may contain relatively high concentrations of potentially toxic heavy
metals, such as cadmium, chromium, and thallium. Because little is known about the
behavior of these metals in agricultural soils, the use of sewage sludge-derived
compost in agriculture is not widely practiced. Compost does find extensive
applications in parks and gardens for ornamental plants, in land reclamation
(particularly after strip mining) and as part of highway beautification projects.