A Brief History of

Water Treatment
2000 B.C.E. Sanskrit Writings
The Sus’ruta Samhita
“impure water should be purified by being boiled over a
fire, or being heated in the sun, or by dipping a heated
iron into it,

or it may be purified by filtration through sand and coarse

gravel and then allowed to cool.”

The Sanskrit Ousruta Sanghita

“It is good to keep water in copper vessels, to expose it to
sunlight, and filter through charcoal.”
1450 B.C.E Sedimentation
Decanting
400 B.C.E. Hippocrate’s Sleeve
Select the most health-giving source
“for water contributes much to health”

Rain water
“should be boiled and strained;
otherwise, it will have a bad smell
and cause hoarseness.”

For straining
a cloth bag (later called Hippocrate’s
sleeve)
<1,000 C.E. - Arabia, Persia

Arabian alchemist, Geber - Distillation

“purification of liquid matter from its
turbulent feces, and conservation of it from
putrefaction.”

Persian physician, Avicenna - Boiling

Boiling (efficient);Straining through cloth;

Aeration, either by gravity or agitation.

1685 C.E. - Sand Filtration
Italian Physician - Luc Antonio Porzio

Mass Sanitation - for soldiers in the field

Straining, sedimentation, followed by

multiple (downward-flow) filtration through
sand was a “very efficacious method of
correcting the bad qualities of water”.
1700 C.E.
Parisian Scientist La Hire - 1703

Rain Water Cistern with Sand Filter

covered to exclude light and prevent freezing. Water will
keep for years without spoiling (becoming mineralized
through contact with the soil).

Italian Oceanographer, Marsigli - 1711

Sea water is not made drinkable by filtering!

Marsigli filtered sea water through a 6,000 foot-long
glass tube filled with sand.
1750 C.E. - Softening, Coagulation
Scotch Physician, Dr. Francis Home - 1756
‘Experiments on Bleaching’
first scientific experiments on water softening.

London Physician, Dr. William Heberden -

1767
“The common people of England successfully
use alum to purify muddy water - 2-3 grains per quart
making the dirt very soon flocculate then slowly
precipitate”.
1750 C.E. - Water Filter Patent
French entrepreneur, Joseph Amy
First book on filters: Nouvelles Fontaines Domestiques
First filter patent application: 1745
First filter manufacturer: substituted sponge for sand

Poisoned by copper, Amy exposed the menace of

copper poisoning. He used lead, pewter or
earthenware instead.
Joseph
Amy’s
Large
Filter
1754
18’ of sand
1790 C.E. - Filtration in Britain
James Peacock, first English filter patent: 1791

-- novel concept of upflow filtration with reverse-flow

wash

Filtered water supply for Paisley, Scotland: 1804

Piped water to consumers in Glasgow, Scotland:

1810

Scottish Engineer, Robert Thom, slow sand filter:

1827

-- false bottom filter cleaned by reverse flow

English Engineer, James Simpson, slow sand filter: 1829

-- deep filter cleaned by surface scraping

Paisley, Scotland - 1804
Settling Tank, Roughing Filter, Sand Filter, Clear Well
American Rapid Filter - 1880
American Inventors, Patrick Clark, John Hyatt: 1880
mechanical filtration, backwash, surface wash