CENG 420 – Water Treatment Lecture Note

Chapter 3 Introduction to treatment processes

3.1 Methods of treatment
Water withdrawn directly from rivers, lakes, or reservoirs is rarely clean enough for human
consumption if it is not treated to purify it. Even water pumped from underground aquifers often
requires some degree of treatment to render it potable, that is, suitable for drinking.
Objectives of Treatment. The object of treatment processes is to remove all undesirable
impurities, to the extent where they do not cause any trouble to human health and water is
available to the consumers as per health standards. Following may be the objectives.
i.To remove color, dissolved gases, and murkiness of water.
ii.To remove objectionable taste and odor from the water
iii.To kill the troublesome bacteria.
iv. To estimate the corrosive and tuberculating properties of water. This treatment is
essential from pipes and pipe fittings safety point of view.
v. To make water safe for drinking and domestic purposes, and also for various industrial
purposes like brewing, dyeing, steam boilers etc.

Treatment processes
Surface water supplies generally require more extensive treatment than groundwater supplies do.
This is because most streams, rivers, and lakes are contaminated to some extent with domestic
sewage and runoff. Even in areas far removed from human activity, surface water contains
suspended soil particles (silt and clay) and organics and bacteria (from decaying vegetation and
animal wastes.)
The amount of treatment required depends on the
(a) Quantity and quality of raw water, and
(b) Required standards of purified water
Water Classification by Source. Potable water is most conveniently classified as to its source,
that is, groundwater or surface water. Table 3.1 shows a comparison between groundwater and
surface water.
Groundwater is further classified as to its source—deep or shallow wells. Municipal water
quality factors of safety, temperature, appearance, taste and odor, and chemical balance re most
easily satisfied by deep well source. High concentrations of calcium, iron, manganese, and
magnesium typify well source. Some supplies contain hydrogen sulfide, while others may have
excessive concentrations of chloride, sulfate, or carbonate.
Shallow wells are recharged by a nearby surface watercourse. They may have qualities similar to
the deep wells, or they may take on the characteristics of the surface recharge water. A sand
aquifer between the shallow well supply and the surface watercourse may act as an effective
filter for removal of organic matter and as a heat exchanger for buffering temperature changes.
Surface water supplies are classified as to whether they come from a lake, reservoir, or river. A
comparison of the three is shown in Table 3.2. Generally, a river has the lowest water quality and
a reservoir the highest. Water quality in rivers depends upon the character of the watershed.

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AAU, FoT, Department of Civil Engineering Instructor: Zerihun Alemayehu
CENG 420 – Water Treatment Lecture Note

Table 3.1: General characteristics of groundwater and surface water

Ground Surface

Constant composition Varying composition

High mineralization Low mineralization
Little turbidity High turbidity
Low or no color Color
Bacteriologically safe Microorganisms present
No dissolved oxygen Dissolved oxygen
High hardness Low hardness
H2S, Fe, Mn Tastes and odors
Possible chemical toxicity

River quality is largely influenced by pollution from municipalities, industries, and agricultural
practices. The characteristics of a river can be highly variable. During rains or periods of runoff,
turbidity may increase substantially. Many rivers will show an increase in color and taste and in
odor-producing compounds. In warm months, algal blooms frequently cause taste and odor
problems.
Reservoir and lake sources have much less day-to-day variation than rivers. Additionally, the
quiescent conditions will reduce both the turbidity and, on occasion, the color. As in rivers,
summer algal blooms can create taste and odor problems in lakes and reservoirs.
Table 3.2: Raw water quality as a function of water resource

Turbidity Color Average alum

Source (NTU) (Pt-Co units) dose (mg/L)
Reservoir 11 18 16
Lake 16 28 22
River 26 44 29

Treatment Systems. The various components of a water treatment plant have been derived from
unit operations. A water treatment unit process is defined as an engineered system that employs
particular kinds of influences or actions to effect certain intended state changes for the water.
Every unit operation aims at the removal of reduction of specific objectionable substances to the
desired degree. The typical functions of each unit treatment are given in Table 3.3.
The most common type of treatment of surface water includes clarification and disinfection.
Clarification is usually accomplished by a combination of coagulation-flocculation,
sedimentation, and filtration; the most common method for disinfection used is chlorination. A
typical flow diagram that shows the sequence of the individual treatment steps, or unit processes,
is shown in Figure 3.1.

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AAU, FoT, Department of Civil Engineering Instructor: Zerihun Alemayehu
CENG 420 – Water Treatment Lecturee Note

Table 3.3 Functionns of water treatment

t unnits
Uniit treatment Function (rem
F moval)
Aerration, chem
micals use C
Color, odor, taste
t
Scrreening F
Floating mattter
Cheemical methods Irron, Mangannese etc
Sofftening H
Hardness
Seddimentation S
Suspended m
matter
Coaagulation S
Suspended m
matter, a part of colloidall matter and bacteria
Filttration R
Remaining coolloidal dissolved matterr, bacteria
disiinfection P
Pathogenic b
bacteria, orgaanic matter and
a reducingg substances

Figuree 3.1 A flow

w diagram of a typical surrface water treatment
t plaant
A brief definition
d of the unit proccesses:
Screeningg: Retention
n of a substaance by a scrreen that has a mesh sizze smaller thhan the substance
to be retaained.
Gravity settling:
s A particle fallinng under the influence off gravity is called
c sedimeentation.
Coagulattion: Chargee neutralization of a neggatively charrged colloid,, usually by chemical means,
m
such as thhe use of alu
um or ferric compounds..
Flocculaation: A unitt process thaat promotes collisions
c beetween particles that attaach to each other
upon conntact, growin
ng in size to increase setttling velocityy.
Filtrationn: Convectiion of a waater stream through a porous
p meddia with thee intent to retain
r
suspendeed particles within
w the media.
m
Gas transsfer: Transp
port of gas beetween the dissolved
d phaase in water and a gas phhase.
Ion-exchaange: The exchange of benign
b ions((such as Na+) bonded to sites withinn an ion exchhange
material such as a zeolite mineraal or a syntheetic resin) inntended to bee displaced by
b an ion targgeted
for removval (such as Ca2+) whichh has a stronger bondingg force.
Adsorptioon: The attaachment of a molecule too an adsorption site provvide by an innternal surfaace of
an adsorbbent materiaal. Activated carbon is thhe best know
wn adsorbent for an enginneered system m.
Biologicaal treatment: A reaction between an organic molecule and a microorgannism.
Disinfecttion: Inactivation of microorganismss.

3
AAU, FoT,, Departmentt of Civil Engin
neering Instructor: Zerihun
Z Alemaayehu
CENG 420 – Water Treatment Lecture Note

Water treatment process selection

Water treatment process selection is a complex task. Circumstances are likely to be different for
each water utility and perhaps may be different for each source used by one utility. Selection of
one or more water treatment processes to be used at a given location is influenced by the
necessity to meet regulatory quality goals, the desire of the utility and its customers to meet other
water quality goals (such as aesthetics), and the need to provide water service at the lowest
reasonable cost. Factors that should be included in decisions on water treatment processes
include:
• Contaminant removal
• Source water quality
• Reliability
• Existing conditions
• Process flexibility
• Utility capabilities
• Costs
• Environmental compatibility
• Distribution system water quality
• Issues of process scale
Table 3.4 below gives the possible treatment selections depending on the water source and
quality.
Table 3.4: Treatment required for different sources
Source Treatment required
1. Ground water and spring fairly free from No treatment or chlorination
contamination
2. Ground water with chemicals, minerals and Aeration, coagulation (if necessary) filtration,
gases and disinfection
3. Lakes, surface water reservoirs with less Disinfection
amount of pollution
4. Other surface waters, such as rivers, canals Complete treatment
and impounded reservoirs with a
considerable amount of pollution

3.2 Location of Treatment Plants

The location of treatment plant depends on the following factors.
1. It is preferable to locate the plant as near as possible to the area of distribution, to avoid the
risk of water getting contaminated in transit
2. If the source is at a lower elevation than the distribution area, the plant maybe located near
the source
3. In very large cities, small disinfection units may be installed, scattered over the city, to guard
against possible contamination during conveyance
4. Various units of the plant should be located in a proper sequence, to ensure that water flows
by gravity from unit to unit without pumping
5. The treatment lay-out should be compact, so that less space and less piping is required
6. There should be sufficient space for future expansion

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AAU, FoT, Department of Civil Engineering Instructor: Zerihun Alemayehu
CENG 420 – Water Treatment Lecture Note

7. Provision must be made at the plant for a store and laboratory and shelter for the working
personnel
8. The plant should be made as hygienic as possible
9. The plant must be provided with essential services such as approach roads, power supply and
telephone facilities.
3.3 Preliminary treatment processes
1. Pumping and containment - The majority of water must be pumped from its source or
directed into pipes or holding tanks. To avoid adding contaminants to the water, this
physical infrastructure must be made from appropriate materials and constructed so that
accidental contamination does not occur.
2. Screening - The first step in purifying surface water is to remove large debris such as
sticks, leaves, trash and other large particles which may interfere with subsequent
purification steps. Most deep groundwater does not need screening before other
purification steps.
3. Storage - Water from rivers may also be stored in reservoirs for periods between a few
days and many months to allow natural biological purification to take place. This is
especially important if treatment is by slow sand filters. Storage reservoirs also provide a
buffer against short periods of drought or to allow water supply to be maintained during
transitory pollution incidents in the source river.
4. Pre-conditioning - Many waters rich in hardness salts are treated with soda-ash (Sodium
carbonate) to precipitate calcium carbonate out utilising the common ion effect.
5. Pre-chlorination - In many plants the incoming water was chlorinated to minimise the
growth of fouling organisms on the pipe-work and tanks. Because of the potential adverse
quality effects, this has largely been discontinued.
6. pH adjustment - Distilled water has an average pH of 7 (neither alkaline nor acidic) and
sea water has an average pH of 8.3 (slightly alkaline). If the water is acidic (lower than
7), lime or soda ash is added to raise the pH. Lime is the more common of the two
additives because it is cheap, but it also adds to the resulting water hardness. Making the
water slightly alkaline ensures that coagulation and flocculation processes work
effectively and also helps to minimize the risk of lead being dissolved from lead pipes
and lead solder in pipe fittings.

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AAU, FoT, Department of Civil Engineering Instructor: Zerihun Alemayehu