Hindawi

Advances in Materials Science and Engineering

Volume 2022, Article ID 3023200, 5 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3023200

Review Article
Effective Waste Water Treatment by the Application of
Natural Coagulants

Kartika Panwar ,1 Itika Dadhich,1 Mayank Dave,1 Yagya Sharma,1 and Nagaraju Shaik 2

1
Department of Structural Engineering, MBM University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
2
Department of Construction Technology and Management, College of Engineering and Technology, Wollega University,
Nekemte, Ethiopia

Correspondence should be addressed to Nagaraju Shaik; sknagaraju@wollegauniversity.edu.et

Received 11 July 2022; Revised 13 August 2022; Accepted 18 August 2022; Published 20 September 2022

Academic Editor: Samson Jerold Samuel Chelladurai

Copyright © 2022 Kartika Panwar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
The natural water contamination because of the population growth, industrialization, urbanization, sewage from households,
industries, institutions, and hospitals, among other things, has increased. After using in various ways, this water turns into
wastewater, completing the hydrological cycle. Waterways that are contaminated pose numerous hazards to health and envi-
ronment. As a result, contaminants must be removed. Coagulation is an effective basic chemical treatment technique that could be
used to remediate such pollutants. The majority of people in rural areas are compelled to rely on easily accessible sources, which
are typically of low quality and expose them to waterborne diseases, due to the high expense of chemical coagulant-treated water.
Natural coagulant, a naturally occurring, plant-based coagulant, can then be used to reduce turbidity during the coagulation and
flocculation stage of wastewater treatment. Chemical coagulants may be substituted with natural coagulants. It reduces turbidity
while also being ecologically beneficial, serving a dual purpose. In order to solve turbidity concerns, substantial research is needed
to find and adopt new techniques for water purification that are less expensive, need less energy, use fewer chemicals, and have a
less negative impact on the environment. This study's objectives included evaluating the viability and efficacy of using natural
coagulants in place of commonly used synthetic coagulants such aluminum sulphate as well as optimizing the
coagulation procedure.

1. Introduction concern. So, before introducing any waste water (from

Water is a necessity and an essential component of all the
human and microbial activities. The hydrological cycle’s
most crucial element is water, which is also one of the re-
quirements for all forms of life on Earth. Due to different
environmental degradation activities, population expansion,
climate change, rising standards of living, and urbanization
[1], the world’s water resources are steadily depleting [2].
The impending water crisis is the result of rapid population
growth and haphazard waste disposal. Water scarcity has
prompted more in-depth research into water and waste-
water. As the urban population grows daily and untreated
water is poured directly into sources of clean water, con-
trolling and treating waste water has become a major
municipal, dairy, industrial, etc.) into the natural water
resources, pretreatment of the water is particularly essential.
Numerous procedures and technologies are being created to
enhance water quality in order to fulfil the rising demand for
water [3]. These inventions may be divided into three cat-
egories of therapeutic methods: physical, chemical, and
biological. Adsorption [4], settling, medium, and membrane
filtration, as well as UV treatments, are examples of physical
approaches. Certain chemical processes which are used in
wastewater treatment include coagulation [5], disinfection
[6], oxidation [7], ion exchange [8], and softening pro-
cesses [9]. Biodegradation by microorganisms [10], cata-
lytic reduction [11], bioreactor processes [12], artificial
wetlands [13], and phytoremediation [14] are a few
2 Advances in Materials Science and Engineering
examples of biological techniques. Additionally, in order to
increase efficiency, some processes are merged with an-
other [15].
The most popular method for removing dispersed
particle matter and colloids from wastewater in basic water
and wastewater treatment is coagulation [16]. Its main
objective is to clear water bodies of suspended colloidal
particles and reducing turbidity. In a chemical reactor, the
process is typically carried out by introducing influent water
or wastewater into a basin and physically mixing coagulant
chemicals into it. Next, sedimentation to remove particles is
carried out using gravity settling. Coagulants come in a
variety of forms. Alum and ferric salts are the most fre-
quently used chemical coagulants. However, there were a
number of drawbacks to using these chemical coagulants,
including the production of dangerously large amounts of
sludge. Natural coagulants are another type of coagulant
derived from plants. Natural coagulants are quite secure and
kind to the environment. Animals, plants, and microbes may
all extract it. Some plants can conduct some of the coagu-
lation mechanisms, such as neutralizing the charge in col-
loidal particles and carrying out polymer bridging, which
allows them to operate as coagulants.
2. Coagulants in Wastewater Treatment
Without the addition of coagulant agents, it is nearly impos-
sible to eliminate the specific pollutants in wastewater. Col-
loidal or suspended particles have negative loads because
stability prevents them from settling to the bottom, hence
instability is necessary for them to flocculate in the bunch. Tiny
floccules will form after coagulant annexation as a result of a
reduction in the repellence between colloidal particles. The
floccules will expand and cluster together, settle at the bottom,
and become detached from the water suspension itself with the
prolonged calm stirring [17, 18]. Since the nineteenth century,
coagulation has been a simple method for water purification
due to its comprehensible mechanics [19]; Jiang 2001).
3. Types of Natural Coagulants
Broad classification of natural coagulants is given in
Figure 1;
Table 1 presents the types based on various categories.
4. Mechanism of Natural Coagulants in Waste
Water Treatment
The idea that the dissolved particles and the polymer in a
solution can interact was developed by the coagulation
process because natural polymers feature a lot of charged
functional groups in their polysaccharide chain, such as
–OH, –COOH, and –NH. The four steps in coagulant
processing include double layer compression, bridging
mechanisms, charge neutralization, and sweep-floc mech-
anism [21]. Typically, a mixture of macromolecules in-
cluding protein, carbohydrates, and lipids makes up natural
coagulants. Polymers of polysaccharides and amino acids are
frequently used as major building blocks [22].
Plant based
Natural
Organism based
Coagulants
Animal based
Figure 1: Classification of natural coagulants.
In several practical situations, cationic polyelectrolytes
are the most promising flocculants for dissolving negatively
charged contaminated particles. Strong adsorptions are
produced by an electrostatic interaction, which neutralizes
the particle surface and may result in charge reversal.
Furthermore, flocculation may occur resulting from particle
surface charge reduction and decreased their electrical re-
pulsion [23]. Numerous investigations on polyelectrolytes
with maximal charge densities have shown to be effective
simply because they have a good ability to transmit addi-
tional charge to the particle shell at a given dosage. Addi-
tionally, the “electrostatic patch mechanism” is a possibility
that emerges when maximal charge density polyelectrolyte is
absorbed on negative (–ve) surfaces with a relatively lower
density of potential sites [23]. Particle attraction and floc-
culation are caused by the alternating positive and negative
charges in the adsorbed polyelectrolyte chains. In Moringa
oleifera, coagulating agents are cationic proteins with mo-
lecular masses of 12–14 kDa and isoelectric points (Pi) that
are below 10–11. The researchers come to the further
conclusion that adsorption and charge neutralization are the
primary mechanisms that control the coagulation activity.
Many studies using coagulants such as Moringa oleifera,
sago starch, and cassia seed gum have identified the bridging
mechanism. Long chain polymers absorbed on particles can
have head and tails that enter the solution via various
techniques. A bridging mechanism needs a large area where
polymer chain divisions can be attached and wrapped
around other particles. Therefore, the significance of the
most advantageous amount for the bridging mechanism is
appropriate [23]. According to an earlier research study, the
coagulating activity of the Nirmali microbe extract is en-
hanced by the presence of lipids, alkaloids with –COOH and
–OH groups, and carbohydrates. Galactomannan and gal-
actan, two polysaccharide particles extracted from Nirmali
seeds, are capable of removing up to 80% of the turbidity in
kaolin solution. The presence of numerous –OH adsorption
sites alongside the galactomannan and galactan chains found
in nirmali seed extracts results in an interparticle bridging
effect. Due to a higher rate of aggregation as a result of
increased solids concentration, sweep flocculation provides
significantly more particle elimination than particle desta-
bilization, as in the charge neutralization mechanism. Sweep
flocculation is employed to remove suspended materials that
are detrimental to the mesh composition. On the treatment
of turbid water with chitosan (Chitosan has many appealing
properties, including hydrophobicity, biocompatibility,
biodegradability, nontoxicity, and the presence of highly
reactive amino (-NH2) and hydroxyl (-OH) groups in its
Advances in Materials Science and Engineering
Table 1: Types based on various categories [20].
Plant-based Microorganism-based
Moringa oleifera, nirmali seeds, tannin
Cactus, potato starch, tamarind seeds Xanthan gum Aspergillus sp., Enterobacter, streptomonas etc. Chitosan, alginate, chitin, etc.
Banana peel, common beans, etc.
backbone, making it an effective adsorbent material for the
removal of wastewater pollutants.), the same mechanism was
proposed. The study found that when the pH is at 8.5, the
sweeping mechanism dominates kaolinites removal [24].
5. Processing Steps of Natural Coagulants
Processing steps for natural coagulants involve three phases
only. All of these phases are detailed using a flow chart. In
the first phase, natural coagulants are pulverized manually or
mechanically. Organic and alcoholic solvents were used in
the second phase to remove the active agent. To treat water
and wastewater, the final phase involves dialysis, lyophili-
zation, ion exchange, and precipitation. Figure 2. shows
processes’ phase of natural coagulants [25].
6. Comparison of Some Natural
Coagulants’ Efficiency
With brief descriptions of their ideal circumstances, ap-
plications, and efficiency, a list of some of the plant-based
coagulants explored as natural coagulants is compiled;
Roselle seeds (Hibiscus sabdariffa) are rich in proteins
(approx. 28%) and soluble in water. When in solution,
they are uniformly positively charged. The negatively
charged particles in the fluid that cause turbidity bind
to these positively charged proteins. The study found
that roselle seeds have the maximum turbidity removal
performance for synthetic wastewater at pH 10 and 81
percent to 93 percent at pH 4 [26].
Moringa oleifera is one of the most effective plant
extracts for water purification. Among other things,
this method can remove biological oxygen demand
(BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity,
total dissolved solids (TDS), total coliform removal,
algal removal, hardness, and total suspended solids
(TSS). According to studies by the authors of [27],
Moringa oleifera reduces total coliform by 96 percent in
synthetic raw water and reduces turbidity from 100
NTU to 5.9 NTU, 5.9 NTU after dosing, and 5 NTU
after filtration. Additionally, wastewater turbidity was
reduced by 84 percent and COD by 46 percent in
washing [28]. Turbidity, BOD, COD, hardness, TDS,
and TSS are reduced in municipal wastewater by 61
percent, 65 percent, 55 percent, 25 percent, 69 percent,
and 68 percent, respectively [29].
Hyacinth bean (Dolichos lablab) peels are characterized
for use as a source of protein. Protein levels in hyacinth
bean peels are moderate. With a dosage of 20 mg/L in
synthetic water, turbidity removal efficiency is 99
percent [30]. Turbidity is reduced from 100 NTU
3
Animal-based
(i) Cut, slice, chop & peel.
Raw material (ii) Drying either by manual or mechanical
pulverization.
(i) Organic/alcoholic solvent used to remove the
Extraction active agent.
(ii) Extraction from water salt solutions is also
used.
Dialysis,
lyophilization, ion (i) Treating water as an effective way of
exchange, refinement.
precipitation
Figure 2: Processes’ phase of natural coagulants.
(nephelometric turbidity units) to 11.1 NTU after
dosing, filtration to 9.5 NTU, and total coliform re-
moval is 89 percent in synthetic water [27].
Cactus is another powerful natural coagulant. Various
research studies show that cactus species are effective at
removing COD, turbidity, and colour. Cactus, for
example, removes turbidity by 90–92 percent, COD by
90 percent, and colour by 99 percent in textile
wastewaters at a dosage of 40 mg/L and pH 7.25 [31].
Nirmali seeds are yet another essential natural coagulant
used to eliminate turbidity and total suspended particles
(TSS). In laundry wastewater, it reduces turbidity and
TSS by 96 and 76 percent, respectively [32].
Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is the recent approach
for creating a powerful natural coagulant. Turbidity
removal efficiency was 88% for tannery effluent and 98
percent for synthetic wastewater. TSS, BOD, and COD,
as well as other physicochemical parameters of tannery
wastewater, were significantly reduced. The COD re-
moval efficiency was 50%, and the BOD content of the
wastewater was reduced by 55%. When used as a co-
agulant, watermelon seeds comparatively reduced
turbidity, BOD, COD and TSS in synthetic wastewater
and tannery effluent [33].
Therefore, it can be argued that natural coagulants have a
wide range of applications, including disinfection in addi-
tion to physical and biological water and wastewater
treatment.
7. Conclusion
Artificial coagulants are frequently employed in the treat-
ment of sewage, but when they are, they can have detri-
mental effects on human health, including memory loss,
constipation, and lack of energy, colic, convulsions, and
4 Advances in Materials Science and Engineering
difficulties in learning. Therefore, using natural coagulants
rather than chemical or synthetic ones can be quite ad-
vantageous. Natural coagulants can be obtained from a
several types of natural sources, and they can be practical
and affordable alternatives, when used as primary or
supplementary coagulants. Natural and artificial coagu-
lants come in two different varieties. In the treatment of
wastewater, coagulants are used to eliminate different
parameters. There are two categories of coagulant, i.e.,
plant-based coagulants and nonplant-based coagulants.
The preparation of natural coagulants consists of three
steps for the replacement of the coagulant dose in waste-
water treatment. The treatment with biocoagulants rep-
resents an important development in a viable environment
for the betterment of the ecosystem, particularly in less
urbanized areas. In an attempt to clean wastewater, the
ecofriendly coagulant is being used as a natural coagulant
in the coagulation process. New coagulant processing
techniques, such as composite polymerization and im-
pregnation, can be used to create coagulants with increased
capability. This review emphasized the numerous potential
benefits of using natural coagulants derived from plants,
animals, or biomass [34–42].
Data Availability
The data used to support the findings of this study are in-
cluded within the article.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest
regarding the publication of this paper.
References
[1] S. L. Zubaidi, S. Ortega-Martorell, H. Al-Bugharbee et al.,
“Urban waterdemand prediction for a city that suffers from
climate change and population growth: gauteng province case
study,” Water, vol. 12, no. 7, pp. 1885–1917, 2020.
[2] T. Y. Wu, A. W. Mohammad, S. L. Lim, P. N. Lim, and
J. X. W. Hay, “Recent advances in the reuse of wastewaters for
promoting sustainable development,” Wastewater Reuse and
Management, Springer, New York, London, 2013.
[3] A. Ullah, S. Hussain, A. Wasim, and M. Jahanzaib, “Devel-
opment of a decision support system for the selection of
wastewater treatment technologies,” Science of The Total
Environment, vol. 731, pp. 139158–139212, 2020.
[4] I. Ali and V. K. Gupta, “Advances in water treatment by
adsorption technology,” Nat. Protoc., vol. 1, no. 6,
pp. 2661–2667, 2006.
[5] S. Alibeigi-Beni, M. Habibi Zare, M. Pourafshari Chenar,
M. Sadeghi, and S. Shirazian, “Design and optimization of a
hybrid process based on hollow-fiber membrane/coagulation
for wastewater treatment,” Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., vol. 28,
no. 7, pp. 8235–8245, 2021.
[6] M. C. Collivignarelli, A. Abbà, G. Alloisio, E. Gozio, and
I. Benigna, “Disinfection in wastewater treatment plants:
evaluationof effectiveness and acute toxicity effects,” Sus-
tainability, vol. 9, no. 10, pp. 1704–1713, 2017.
[7] P. R. Gogate and A. B. Pandit, “A review of imperative
technologies for wastewater treatment I: oxidation
technologies at ambient conditions,” Advances in Environ-
mental Research, vol. 8, no. 3-4, pp. 501–551, 2004.
[8] O. Ergunova, R. Ferreira, A. Ignatenko, V. G. Lizunkov, and
E. Malushko, “Use of ion exchange filters in wastewater
treatment,” Eur. Proc. Soc. Behav. Sci. (EpSBS): Responsible
Res. Innov. (RRI2016)—Nicosia, vol. 26, pp. 541–549, 2017.
[9] K. S. Brastad and Z. He, “Water softening using microbial
desalination cell technology,” Desalination, vol. 309, pp. 32–
37, 2013.
[10] J. Huang, J. Ling, C. Kuang, J. Chen, Y. Xu, and Y. Li,
“Microbial biodegradation of aniline at low concentrations by
Pigmentiphagadaeguensis isolated from textile dyeing
sludge,” International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation,
vol. 129, pp. 117–122, 2018.
[11] Y. Guo, O. A. Zelekew, H. Sun, D.-H. Kuo, J. Lin, and X. Chen,
“Catalytic reduction of organic and hexavalent chro-
miumpollutants with highly active bimetal CuBiOS oxysulfide
catalystunder dark,” Separation and Purification Technology,
vol. 242, no. 116769, pp. 2178–2189, 2020.
[12] C. H. Neoh, Z. Z. Noor, N. S. A. Mutamim, and C. K. Lim,
“Green technology in wastewater treatment technologies:
integration of membrane bioreactor with various wastewater
treatment systems,” Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 283,
pp. 582–594, 2016.
[13] H. Wu, J. Zhang, H. H. Ngo et al., “A review on the sus-
tainability of constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment:
design and operation,” Bioresource Technology, vol. 175,
pp. 594–601, 2015.
[14] H. Hu, X. Li, S. Wu, and C. Yang, “Sustainable livestock
wastewater treatment via phyto remediation: current status
and future perspectives,” Bioresource Technology, vol. 315,
no. 123809, pp. 123809–11, 2020.
[15] W. L. Ang and A. W. Mohammad, “State of the art and
sustainability of natural coagulants in water and waste water
treatment,” Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 262, Article ID
121267, 2020.
[16] L. C. Staicu, E. D. van Hullebusch, M. A. Oturan, C. J. Ackerson,
and P. N. Lens, “Removal of colloidal biogenic selenium from
wastewater,” Chemosphere, vol. 125, pp. 130–138, 2015.
[17] J. Saravanan, D. Priyadharshini, A. Soundammal, G. Sudha,
and K. Suriyakala, “Wastewater treatment using natural co-
agulants,” International Journal of Civil Engineering, vol. 4,
no. 3, pp. 40–42, 2017.
[18] N. A. Zainol, A. A. Hamidi, M. S. Yusoff, and M. Umar, “The
use of poly aluminum chloride for the treatment of landfill
leachate via coagulation and flocculation processes,” Research
Journal of Chemical Sciences, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 34–39, 2011.
[19] S. Y. Choy, K. M. N. Prasad, T. Y. Wu, M. E. Raghunandan,
and R. N. Ramanan, “Utilization of plant-based natural co-
agulants as future alternatives towards sustainable water
clarification,” Journal of Environmental Sciences (China),
vol. 26, no. 11, pp. 2178–2189, 2014.
[20] S. Nimesha, “Effectiveness of natural coagulants in water and
wastewater treatment,” Global J. Environ. Sci. Manage., vol. 8,
no. 1, pp. 101–116, 2022.
[21] F. Renault, B. Sancey, P. M. Badot, and G. Crini, “Chitosan for
coagulation/flocculation processes-an eco-friendly ap-
proach,” European Polymer Journal, vol. 45, no. 5,
pp. 1337–1348, 2009.
[22] M. Adinolfi, M. Michela Corsaro, R. Lanzetta et al., “Com-
position of the coagulant polysaccharide fraction from
Strychnospotatorum seeds,” Carbohydrate Research, vol. 263,
no. 1, pp. 103–110, 1994.
Advances in Materials Science and Engineering 5

[23] B. Bolto and J. Gregory, “Organic poly electrolytes in water treatment: experimental study,” International Journal of En-
treatment,” Water Research, vol. 41, no. 11, pp. 2301–2324, gineering and Technical Research, vol. 4, no. 12, 2015.
2007. [41] S. N. A. Mohd-Salleh, N. S. Mohd-Zin, and N. Othman, “A
[24] B. Bina, A. Ebrahimi, and F. Hesami, “The effectiveness of review of wastewater treatment using natural material and its
chitosan as coagulant aid in turbidity removal from water,” Int potential as aid and composite coagulant,” Sains Malaysiana,
J Env Health Eng, vol. 3, no. 1, p. 8, 2014. vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 155–164, 2019.
[25] U. Kumar, K. Nahar, and A. S. Thakur, “Sustainable treatment [42] V. Kumar, N. Othman, and S. Asharuddin, “Applications of
of water and wastewater using natural plant-based coagulants: natural coagulants to treat wastewater a review,” in Pro-
a review,” INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING ceedings of the MATEC Web of Conferences, Wuhan, China,
RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY (IJERT), vol. 11, no. 5, 2022. December 2016, https://www.matec-conferences.org/articles/
[26] N. F. A. Saharudin and R. Nithyanandam, Wastewater matecconf/abs/2017/17/matecconf_iscee2017_06016/ma tecconf_
Treatment by Using Natural Coagulant Wastewater Treatment iscee2017_06016.html.
by Using Natural Coagulant, pp. 2-3, 2nd Eureca, 2014.
[27] S. Choubey, S. Rajput, and K. Bapat, “Comparison of effi-
ciency of some natural coagulants-bioremediation,” Int.
J. Emerg. Technol.Adv. Eng., vol. 2, pp. 429–434, 2012.
[28] A. A. Al-Gheethi, R. Mohamed, A. A. Wurochekke,
N. R. Nurulainee, J. Mas Rahayu, and M. K. Amir Hashim,
“Efficiency of moringa oleifera seeds for treatment of laundry
wastewater,” MATEC Web of Conferences, vol. 103, Article ID
06001, 2017.
[29] R. Kumar Kaushal and H. Goyal, “Treatment of waste water
using natural coagulants,” in Proceedings of the Recent Adv.
Interdiscip. TrendsEng. Appl. (RAITEA), pp. 1–7, 2019.
[30] S. Bs and G. Papegowda, “Evaluation of cactus and hyacinth
bean peels as natural coagulants,” 2012.
[31] F. Bouatay and F. Mhenni, “Use of the Cactus Cladodes
Mucilage(Opuntia Ficus Indica) as an eco-friendly flocculants:
process development and optimization using statistical anal-
ysis,” Int. J.Environ. Res., vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 1295–1308, 2014.
[32] S. M. Mohan, “Use of naturalized coagulants in removing
laundry waste surfactant using various unit processes in lab-
scale,” Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 136,
pp. 103–111, 2014.
[33] S. Sathish, S. Vikram, and R. Suraj, “Effectiveness of turbidity
removal from synthetic and tannery wastewater by using
seedsof a natural coagulant citrulluslanatus,” Nat. Environ.
Pollut.Technol., vol. 17, pp. 551–553, 2018.
[34] T. H. Ang, K. Kiatkittipong, W. Kiatkittipong et al., “Insight
on extraction and characterisation of biopolymers as the green
coagulants for microalgae harvesting,” Water, vol. 12, no. 5,
p. 1388, 2020.
[35] G. Jayalakshmi, V. Saritha, and B. Kavitha Dwarapureddi, “A
review on native plant based coagulants for water purifica-
tion,” International Journal of Applied Environmental Sci-
ences, vol. 12, pp. 469–487, 2017.
[36] C. Huang, S. Chen, and J. Ruhsing Pan, “Optimal condition
for modification of Chitosan: a biopolymer for coagulation of
colloidal particles,” Water Research, vol. 34, no. 3,
pp. 1057–1062, 2000.
[37] G. Konapala, A. K. Mishra, Y. Wada, and M. E. Mann,
“Climate change will affect global water availability through
compounding changes in seasonal precipitation and evapo-
ration,” Nat. Commun., vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1–14, 2020.
[38] V. Kumar, N. Othman, and S. Asharuddin, “Applications of
natural coagulants to treat wastewater− A review,” MATEC
Web of Conferences. EDP Sciences, vol. 103, no. 06016, pp. 1–9,
2017.
[39] E. OboteyEzugbe and S. Rathilal, “Membrane technologies in
wastewater treatment: a review,” Membranes, vol. 10, no. 5,
p. 89, 2020.
[40] P. Ramesh, V. Padmanaban, and R. Sivacoumar, “Influence of
homemade coagulants on the characteristics of surface water