Water Treatment for Municipal Supply

Removes dirt and other

Water treatment for municipal supply
Lakes/Reservoirs/
Rivers
particles suspended in
water. Alum and other
chemicals are added for
coagulation through floc
Storage tanks Coagulation

Multilayer filtration using Heavy particles (floc) settle to

sand, gravel and charcoal the bottom and clear water goes
for filtration
Flocculation &
Filtration Sedimentation Clarification

Calculated amount of
chlorine is added
Storage in
Disinfection closed Supply
containers through
pipelines
 Sedimentation with Coagulation
Removing suspended and colloidal impurities by the
addition of requisite amount of Coagulants.
Coagulant (Alum, Alumina, Ferrous sulphate, etc.)
When added to water, forms an insoluble gelatinous,
flocculent precipitate, which descent through water,
adsorbs and entangles very fine suspended impurities
forming bigger flocs, which settle down easily

1. Alum (K2SO4.Al2(SO4)3.24H2O) – Alum can be used

for highly alkaline water, otherwise sufficient
amount of lime should be added to make it alkaline
2. Sodium aluminate or Alumina (NaAlO2)
Can be used for water with no alkalinity (pH < 7)

3. Ferrous sulphate (FeSO4.7H2O)

Can be used for water containing more of dissolved
oxygen
FeSO4 + Mg(HCO3)2  Fe(OH)2 + MgSO4 + 2CO2
4Fe(OH)2 + O2 + 2H2O  4Fe(OH)3
Dissolved oxygen Ferric hydroxide
 Filtration
A process of removing colloidal matter and most the
bacteria, micro-organisms, etc., by passing water
through a bed of fine sand and other proper sized
granular materials
 Removal of Micro-organisms

1. Treating water containing pathogenic bacteria –

disease producing – especially drinking water
2. The process of destroying/killing the disease
producing bacteria, micro-organism in drinking
water is called disinfection
3. The chemicals or substances – added to water for
killing the bacteria – disinfectants
Disinfection of Water - Methods

1. By boiling
2. By adding bleaching powder
3. By chlorination
4. By using chloramine
5. By ozone
1. By boiling water for 10-15 minutes

1. By boiling water for 10-15 minutes

• Kills only existing micro-organisms in water at the

time of boiling
• Does not provide any protection against future
possible contamination
• Very costly - Impossible to employ this in the large
scale systems
2. Bleaching Powder

Bleaching powder reacts with to produce

hypochlorous acid (powerful germicide)
CaOCl2 + H2O → Ca(OH)2 + Cl2
Cl2 + H2O → HCl + HOCl
Germs + HOCl → Nascent oxygen - Germs are killed

Disadvantages
Introduces Calcium in water, thereby making it more
hard
Disintegrates during storage – analyze the chlorine
content
Excess of it gives a bad taste and smell to treated
water
3. Chlorination
Chlorine (either gas or in concentrated solution form)
produces hypochlorous acid, which is a powerful germicide

Cl2 + H2O  HCl + HOCl

Germs + HOCl  Nascent oxygen Germs are killed

Mechanism of Action:
Disinfecting action of Chlorine – nascent oxygen
liberated – oxidizes harmful bacteria
Chemical reaction of HOCl with enzymes –
inactivation of enzyme – essential for metabolic
processes of the micro-organism
 Cl2 + H2O  HOCl + HCl
(Hypochlorous acid)

HOCl  HCl + [O] (Nascent oxygen)

Germs + [O]  Oxidation of metabolic enzymes 

Kills bacteria
Factors affecting efficiency of chlorine
• Number of micro-organism destroyed by chlorine per
unit time is proportional to the number of micro-
organism alive.
• The rate of reaction with enzymes increases with
temperature
• pH values between 5.0 - 6.5, less contact time is enough
HOCl ↔H+ + OCl-
HOCl is more destructive than OCl-
Advantages
(i) Effective and economical (ii) used low as well as high
temp (iii) most ideal
Disadvantages
(i) should not exceed 0.1 – 0.2 ppm (ii) less effective in
higher pH values (iii) excess chlorine produces unpleasant
taste and odour.
Dechlorination

Over chlorination after the break point - produces

unpleasant taste and smell
Removed through addition of sulphur dioxide or
sodium thiosulphate
SO2+Cl2 + 2H2O → H2SO4 + 2HCl
Na2S2O3 + Cl2 + H2O → Na2SO4 + 2HCl
4. Chloramine

Cl2 + NH3 ClNH2 + HCl

(Chloroamine)
ClNH2 + H2O HOCl + NH3
(Disinfectant)
- the best chlorinating: why?

Stable than chlorine alone

Better disinfectant – excess does not produce
irritating taste or smell
Break point chlorination (or free-residual chlorination)

Involves addition of sufficient amount of chlorine to

oxidize organic matters, reducing substances, free
ammonia, etc.

Need? - free chlorine to kill bacteria

The addition of chlorine at the dip or break is called

break-point chlorination

The point at which free residual chlorine begins to

appear
 Residual Chlorine 

Chlorine added 
Advantages of Break Point:
-Oxidizes completely organic compounds – remove the
color – organic matters
-100% destroys pathogens
- Treated water does not possess odor and taste
5. Ozonisation/ozonation: Infusion of ozone into water
for disinfecting.
3O2 2O3
O3 O2 + [O.]
Nascent oxygen
Ozone is a relatively unable molecule of oxygen which readily gives
up one atom of nascent oxygen providing a powerful oxidizing agent.
It is produced by creating electric discharge through cold and dry
oxygen
Ozone is very strong, broad spectrum disinfectant and kills harmful
protozoans.
The advantage of ozonisation is production fewer dangerous by-
products (comparison to chlorination). Lack of taste and odour to
ozonized water.
This method is quite expensive – can not employed for disinfection
of domestic water supply. It also produces small amount of
suspected carcinogen bromate. Also leaves a disinfectant residual in
6. UV Treatment

Disinfection of drinking water with Ultraviolet Light

 UV - Sterilizer
UV radiation
• Low pressure and medium pressure UV lamps are
available
• Reacts primarily with nucleic acids: pyrimidine
dimers and other alterations
Primary uses:
Primary physical disinfectant
Advantages of UV Disinfection:
• Highly effective on broad range of pathogens
• Forms no harmful disinfection by-products
• Inactivation independent of pH and temperature
• No unpleasant taste or odor
• No transportation, storage or handling of chemicals
• Easily installed within existing water treatment
facilities
• Low capital and operating costs – only small scale
systems
• Simple to operate
• Minimal hazard risk for operators
 Limitations
• Not suitable for water with large flows.
• Cannot be used for water with high concentrations
of iron, calcium, turbidity and phenols – does not
allow the uv light to pass through water