WATER TREATMENT:

DEFINITION:
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. This treatment is crucial
to human health and allows humans to benefit from both drinking and irrigation use.

WATER TREATMENT PROCESSES:

Clean and safe water is vital for every day life. Water is essential for health, hygiene and the
productivity of our community. The water treatment process may vary slightly at different
locations, depending on the technology of the plant and the water it needs to process, but the basic
principles are largely the same. This section describes standard water treatment processes.

 COAGULATION / FLOCCULATION:

During coagulation, liquid aluminium sulfate (alum) and/or polymer is added to untreated (raw)
water. When mixed with the water, this causes the tiny particles of dirt in the water to stick
together or coagulate. Next, groups of dirt particles stick together to form larger, heavier
particles called flocs which are easier to remove by settling or filtration.

Figure 1: Chlorination process in water treatment

1
  SEDIMENTATION:

As the water and the floc particles progress through the treatment process, they move into
sedimentation basins where the water moves slowly, causing the heavy floc particles to settle to
the bottom. Floc which collects on the bottom of the basin is called sludge, and is piped to drying
lagoons. In Direct Filtration, the sedimentation step is not included, and the floc is removed by
filtration only.

 FILTRATION:

Water flows through a filter designed to remove particles in the water. The filters are made of
layers of sand and gravel, and in some cases, crushed anthracite. Filtration collects the suspended
impurities in water and enhances the effectiveness of disinfection. The filters are routinely cleaned
by backwashing.

 DISINFECTION:

Water is disinfected before it enters the distribution system to ensure that any disease-causing
bacteria, viruses, and parasites are destroyed. Chlorine is used because it is a very effective
disinfectant, and residual concentrations can be maintained to guard against possible biological
contamination in the water distribution system.

Figure 2: Waste-water treatment processes

2
  SLUDGE DRYING:

Solids that are collected and settled out of the water by sedimentation and filtration are removed
to drying lagoons.

Figure 3: Sludge drying process in water treatment

 FLUORIDATION:

Water fluoridation is the treatment of community water supplies for the purpose of adjusting the
concentration of the free fluoride ion to the optimum level sufficient to reduce dental caries.

 pH CORRECTION:

Lime is added to the filtered water to adjust the pH and stabilize the naturally soft water in order
to minimize corrosion in the distribution system, and within customers’ plumbing.

SEWAGE WATER TREATMENT:

Sewage treatment is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage
water. It includes physical, biological and sometimes chemical processes to remove pollutants. Its
aim is to produce an environmentally safe sewage water, called effluent, and a solid waste, called
sludge or bio solids, suitable for disposal or reuse. Reuse is often for agricultural purposes, but
more recently, sludge is being used as a fuel source. Water from the mains, used by manufacturing,
farming, houses (toilets, baths, showers, kitchens, sinks), hospitals, commercial and industrial
sites, is reduced in quality as a result of the introduction of contaminating constituents. Organic
wastes, suspended solids, bacteria, nitrates, and phosphates are pollutants that must be removed.
To make wastewater acceptable for reuse or for returning to the environment, the concentration

3
of contaminants must be reduced to a safe level, usually a standard set by the environment agency.
Sewage can be treated close to where it is created (in septic tanks and their associated drain fields
or sewage treatment plants), or collected and transported via a network of pipes and pump stations
to a municipal treatment plant.

PRINCIPAL POLLUTANTS:

 ORGANIC MATERIAL:

The amount of organic material in sewage is indicated by the biochemical oxygen demand, or
BOD; the more organic material there is in the sewage, the higher the BOD, which is the amount
of oxygen required by microorganisms to decompose the organic substances in sewage. It is among
the most important parameters for the design and operation of sewage treatment plants. Industrial
sewage may have BOD levels many times that of domestic sewage. The BOD of storm sewage is
of particular concern when it is mixed with domestic sewage in combined sewerage systems.
Dissolved oxygen is an important water quality factor for lakes and rivers. The higher the
concentration of dissolved oxygen, the better the water quality. When sewage enters a lake or
stream, decomposition of the organic materials begins. Oxygen is consumed as microorganisms
use it in their metabolism. This can quickly deplete the available oxygen in the water. When the
dissolved oxygen levels drop too low, trout and other aquatic species soon perish. In fact, if the
oxygen level drops to zero, the water will become septic. Decomposition of organic compounds
without oxygen causes the undesirable odors usually associated with septic or putrid conditions.

 SUSPENDED SOLIDS:

Another important characteristic of sewage is suspended solids. The volume of sludge produced
in a treatment plant is directly related to the total suspended solids present in the sewage. Industrial
and storm sewage may contain higher concentrations of suspended solids than domestic sewage.
The extent to which a treatment plant removes suspended solids, as well as BOD, determines
the efficiency of the treatment process.

 PLANT NUTRIENTS:

Domestic sewage contains compounds of nitrogen and phosphorus, two elements that are basic
nutrients essential for the growth of plants. In lakes, excessive amounts
of nitrates and phosphates can cause the rapid growth of algae. Algal blooms, often caused by
sewage discharges, accelerate the natural aging of lakes in a process called eutrophication.

 MICROBES:

4
Domestic sewage contains many millions of microorganisms per gallon. Most are coliform
bacteria from the human intestinal tract, and domestic sewage is also likely to carry other microbes.
Coliforms are used as indicators of sewage pollution. A high coliform count usually indicates
recent sewage pollution.

TYPES OF SEWAGE WATER TREATMENT PLANT PROCESSES:

There are two basic types of sewage water treatment plant processes:

1. Anaerobic sewage treatment

2. Aerobic sewage treatment

1. ANAEROBIC SEWAGE TREATMENT:

Sewage is partly decomposed by anaerobic bacteria in a tank without the introduction of air,
containing oxygen. This leads to a reduction of organic matter into methane, hydrogen sulphide,
carbon dioxide etc. It is widely used to treat wastewater sludge and organic waste because it
provides volume and mass reduction of the input material to a large extent. The methane produced
by large-scale municipal anaerobic sludge treatment is currently being examined for use in homes
and industry, for heating purposes. Septic tanks are an example of an anaerobic process, but the
amount of methane produced by a septic tank (it is only the sludge at the bottom that produces
methane) serving less than 100 people is miniscule. In addition to this, septic tank effluent still
contains about 70% of the original pollutants and the process smells very badly, due to the
hydrogen sulphide, if not vented correctly.

2. AEROBIC SEWAGE TREATMENT:

In this process, aerobic bacteria digest the pollutants. To establish an aerobic bacterial colony, air
must be provided for the bacteria to breathe. In a sewage treatment plant, air is continuously
supplied to the bio zone either by direct surface aeration using impellers propelled by pumps which
whisk the surface of the liquid with air, or by submerged diffused Aeration using blowers for air
supply through bubble diffusers at the bottom of the tank. Aerobic conditions lead to an aerobic
bacterial colony being established. These achieve almost complete oxidation and digestion of
organic matter and organic pollutants to carbon dioxide, water and nitrogen, thus eliminating the
odor and pollution problem above. The effluent produced by this process is non-polluting and can
be discharged to a watercourse.

STAGES OF CONVENTIONAL SEWAGE WATER TREATMENT:

Conventional sewage water treatment involves either two or three stages, called primary,
secondary and tertiary treatment.

5
 1. PRIMARY TREATMENT:

This is usually anaerobic. First, the solids are separated from the sewage. They settle out at the
base of a primary settlement tank. The sludge is continuously being reduced in volume by the
anaerobic process, resulting in a vastly reduced total mass when compared to the original volume
entering the system. The primary settlement tank has the sludge removed when it is about 30% of
the tank volume.

2. SECONDARY TREATMENT:

This is aerobic. The liquid from the primary treatment contains dissolved and particulate biological
matter. This is progressively converted into clean water by using indigenous, water-borne aerobic
micro-organisms and bacteria which digest the pollutants. In most cases, this effluent is clean
enough for discharge directly to rivers.

Figure 4: Stages in sewage water treatment

3. TERTIARY TREATMENT:

In some cases, the effluent resulting from secondary treatment is not clean enough for discharge.
This may be because the stream it is being discharged into is very sensitive, has rare plants and
animals or is already polluted by someone's septic tank. Either phosphorous or ammoniacal
nitrogen or both must be reduced. Tertiary treatment involves this process. If phosphorous is the
culprit, then a continuous dosing system to remove it is the tertiary treatment. If ammoniacal
nitrogen is the problem, then the sewage treatment plant process must involve a nitrifying and then

6
de-nitrification stage to convert the ammoniacal nitrogen to nitrogen gas that harmlessly enters the
atmosphere. Finally, the sludge is periodically removed by tanker and taken for further processing
via aerobic/anaerobic processes and then disposed of or re-used, and the treated water may
be discharged into a stream, river, bay, lagoon or wetland, or it can be used for the irrigation of a
golf course, green way or park. If it is sufficiently clean, it can also be used for groundwater
recharge or agricultural purposes.

IMPROVED WATER TREATMENT METHODS:

Many older wastewater treatment facilities require upgrading because of increasingly strict water
quality standards, but this is often difficult because of limited space for expansion. In order to
allow improvement of treatment efficiencies without requiring more land area, new treatment
methods have been developed. These include the membrane bioreactor process, the ballasted
floc reactor, and the integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) process. In the membrane
bioreactor process, hollow-fiber microfiltration membrane modules are submerged in a single tank
in which aeration, secondary clarification, and filtration can occur, thereby providing both
secondary and tertiary treatment in a small land area. In a ballasted floc reactor, the settling rate of
suspended solids is increased by using sand and a polymer to help coagulate the suspended solids
and form larger masses called flocs. The sand is separated from the sludge in a hydro clone, a
relatively simple apparatus into which the water is introduced near the top of a cylinder at a tangent
so that heavy materials such as sand are “spun” by centrifugal force toward the outside wall. The
sand collects by gravity at the bottom of the hydro clone and is recycled back to the reactor.
Biological aerated filters use a basin with submerged media that serves as both a contact surface
for biological treatment and a filter to separate solids from the wastewater. Fine-bubble aeration is
applied to facilitate the process, and routine backwashing is used to clean the media. The land area
required for a biological aerated filter is only about 15 percent of the area required for a
conventional activated sludge system.