Water Purification
Water purification is the process of removing undesirable chemicals, materials, and biological contaminants from raw water. The goal is to produce water fit for a specific purpose. Most water is purified for human consumption (potable) but water purification may also be designed for a variety of other purposes, including meeting the requirements of medical, pharmacological, chemical and industrial applications.
Water purification can be categorized into one of 4 processes:
- Physical Processes - filtration or sedimentation
- Biological Processes - slow sand filters or activated sludge
• Chemical Processes - flocculation and chlorination
• Electromagnetic Radiation - ultraviolet light
These processes include:
• Boiling
• Granular Activated Carbon Filtering
• Distillation
• Reverse Osmosis
- Direct Contact Membrane Distillation (DCMD)
- Gas Hydrate Centrifuge
- Chlorination
- Ozone Disinfection
- UV Radiation/Solar Water Disinfection
- Water Fluoridation
- Stormwater Planning
The purification process of water may reduce the concentration of particulate matter including suspended particles, parasites, bacteria, algae, viruses, fungi; and a range of dissolved and particulate material derived from the minerals that water may have made contacted after falling as rain.
The standards for drinking water quality are typically set by governments or by international standards. These standards will typically set minimum and maximum concentrations of contaminants for the use that is to be made of the water. It is not possible to tell whether water is of an appropriate quality by visual examination. Simple procedures such as boiling or the use of a household activated carbon filter are not sufficient for treating all the possible contaminants that may be present in water from an unknown source.
