Tre a t m e n t o f Wa t e r

Asst.Prof. Harshita D
School of Architecture,
Ramaiah Institute of Technology,
Bangalore 560054
A. Water treatment process
B. Object of treatment
1. Remove the impurities of raw water
2. Remove dissolved gases, murkiness and color
3. Remove unpleasant and objectionable taste, odur
4. Kill pathogens from various sources
5. To make water fit for domestic use.
6. Eliminate the tuberculation & corrosive properties which affect the conduits and pipes.

C. Consideration for public water supply:

1. The selection of such source of water should be done, which
can provide a sufficient quantity of water in all season

2. As far as possible, the source should be at such places, from

where water can flow under gravitational force to the
waterworks.
3. The quantity of water in the source should also meet the future demand of the town.

4. The quantity of raw water available at the source should be good and it should require minimum
treatment before supplying it to the public.

5. In case the locality of the town is at a higher

level, it is always economical to supply the water in
this area by pumping, whereas, the remaining town
may be supplied at a minimum required pressure

6. The provision of impounding reservoir is made only

when its construction at a higher level is economical
7. The daily flow of river should also be more than the daily water demand.
D. Location of the treatment plant:

2. If the source of water supply is a tube well, the

treatment plant should be located in the central
1. The water treatment plants should be part of the town so that the purified water may
located as near to the town as possible. reach the public as early as possible and also
Waterhead at extreme farthest point will be more.

3. If the city is very large to which water cannot be supplied from 1 tubewell, the city should be divided
into zones and a separate tubewell with the necessary treatment plant should be provided in each
zone.

4. If the source of water is river or reservoir, the treatment plant should be located as near the town as
possible preferably in the central place as the water would reach every consumer with more pressure
and purity.
5. If the city is situated on the bank of the river, the treatment plant should be located near the source,
because in this case, the length of rising mains(line from pump to storage tank) will be small and
muddy water need not be pumped which May cause quick wearing of pipes.

6. If the treatment plant is situated at lower level than the source, its advantage can be taken for back
washing of filters.

E. Treatment processes:
IMPURITY PROCESS USED FOR REMOVAL
Floating matters as leaves, dead screening
animals etc.

Suspended impurities as silt, clay, Plain sedimentation

sand, etc
Fine suspended matter
Micro organism and colloidal
matters
Dissolved gases, tastes and odors
Hardness
Pathogenic bacteria
Sedimentation with coagulation
Filtration
Aeration and chemical
treatment, Water softening
Disinfection
Layout of treatment plant:

1. Intake work including a pumping

plant
2. Plain sedimentation
3. Sedimentation with coagulation
4. Filtration
5. Water softening
6. Miscellaneous treatment plants
7. Disinfection
8. Clear water reservoir.
9. Pumps for pumping the water in
service reservoirs
10. Elevated or underground service
reservoir.
P1. Screening:

To prevent the entry of leaves, sticks, large objects, aquatic vegetation, fish, etc. are provided before
pumps or intake works. The large objects may be eliminated by the use of flat or round steel bars with
Openings of 2.5-7.5 cm which may be placed vertically on a slight slope. The coarse screens are used
ahead of the fine screens of about 9mm openings wire cloth. When water passes through these
screens, the solids are retained and dislodged into a trough.
P2:Plain Sedimentation:

This is the process of causing heavier solid

particles in suspension, both organic and
inorganic to settle by retaining water in a
basin. It depends upon the size of particles,
detention period, shape of sedimentation
basin, and velocity of flow.

The particles heavier than water will settle by

gravity, the suspended particles are of two
types
1. 'granular' that do not change their shape
and weight.
2. 'flocculated particles’ that change their
shape and weight. This process removes
about 60% suspended matter and 75%
bacteria.
Settling Tanks:

1. The tanks may be rectangular, square

with the horizontal flow or circular
with spiral or Radial flow, or hopper
shaped with the vertical flow.

2. The length of the rectangular tank is

limited to 4 times the breadth. Hence
the longer travel can be provided by
baffles allowing the flow around their
ends.

3. The velocity should be 15-30 cm/min. The suspended matter

collected at the bottom of the settling tank is removed by draining
water till depth of 30cm, stirring it, and the sludge may be removed
as a slurry through a separate channel.
4. The cleaning frequency may vary from 1-4 months.
Baffle walls are flow control devices
that increase the retention time in
water treatment facilities.
 P3: Sedimentation with Coagulation:

• The very fine and light particles , colloidal matter cannot settle in sedimentation tanks during the
ordinary detention period. By the addition of certain chemicals these smaller particles are coagulated
into larger ones which possess higher hydraulic settling velocities.

• Thus, Coagulation is the addition of certain chemicals to turbid water in order to produce a gelatinous
precipitate known as 'floc’.

• The coagulation is followed by sedimentation so

that the floc which is formed may settle at the
bottom. The detention period of coagulation
basins is 2-6 hrs.

• The chemicals which are generally used are

Alum, Iron salts like ferric chloride or ferrous
sulphate or chlorinated copper. These chemicals
are most effective when water is slightly alkaline.

The coagulation consists of 2 processes:

1. Feeding and mixing the coagulant: mixed in large vessels usually done by violent agitation.
2. Flocculation: It is done at lower velocity for longer periods during which the suspended matter
comes in contact with chemicals added and the particles grow in size to settle readily.
Type of Mixing Basins:

1. Baffle type: velocity-15-45cm/s, detention period- 20-50 min, min

45cm wide channels, depth not less than 1m. They are placed 60-
100cm apart.

2. Mechanically agitated Mixing basin:

Square or rectangular in shape.

In Flash mixer, rapid mixing is done by a propeller shaft driven by an

electric motor. The water enters in through the inlet, the deflecting wall
deflects the water towards the fan blades where chemicals also reach
through chemical pipes.

Deflector plate mixer: Mixing is done by diffusing the water through a deflector plate. Water enters
from inlet pipe, then it comes out from the holes provided below the deflector plate where it is
agitated rapidly. Chemical pipes brings the coagulants near the deflector plate where they are mixed thoroughly.
Flocculation and clarifiers (Clariflocculator) :

• A mixing basin which combines the process of

mixing, i.e. agitating , flocculating, and
clarifying.
• After thoroughly mixing with coagulants in the
water the next operation is flocculation.
• Flocculators are slow stirring mechanisms
which forms floc. Flocculators consists of
paddles which are revolving at • The paddles may be
• Very slow speed about 2-3 rpm. vertical or horizontal
shafts. They provide gentle
contact between the
flocculating particles
necessary for the
formation of floc.
• The detention time best
should be between 30-60
min.

• Clarifiers: Floc formed above is allowed to settle and separate from water in sedimentation tanks
which are also known as coagulation basins. It consists of raking arms for continuous removal of
sludge.
P4: Filtration:

The flocs formed during flocculation are not removed entirely by sedimentation. Hence, to remove
the finely sized particles and flocs, filtration is required.
It consists in allowing water to pass through a thick layer of sand and other filtering media. By doing
so the suspended and the colloidal matter in water are partially removed, the chemical
characteristics of water are changed and the number of bacteria is materially reduced.

Classification: Slow sand and Rapid sand filter

Mechanical straining: Removes particles of suspended

matter that are too large to pass through the space
between sand grains.

Sedimentation and Absorption: account for the removal of

colloids, suspended and bacterial particles.

Biological Metabolism: is the growth and life process of

the living cells. The surface layer gets coated with zoogleal
film in which the bacterial activities are the highest and
which feed on the organic impurities converting them to
simple, harmless compounds, resulting in the purification
of water.
a: Slow sand filter:

Operation:

• The raw water is led gently on the filter

bed, and percolating downwards passes
through the underdrains into an outlet
chamber.

• The outlet chamber is provided with a

regulating arrangement, consisting of a
telescopic pipe and an adjustable weir
plate in order to keep the rate of
filtration constant.

• It has a head gauge to measure the loss

of head, i.e the difference in the water
level in the filter and in the outlet
chamber.
• Cleaning of filter: After some use, the filter gets clogged, the filter is taken out of service, sand
surface is scraped off and filter is returned to service. This goes on till sand bed becomes lean, then
fresh cleaned sand is replaced to its original level. cleaning has to be done once in 2-4 months.
 b: Rapid sand Filter:

• The control console for each filter unit is equipped with filter rate controller, loss of head gauge and
flow meter.

• In the operation of the rapid sand filter, when the filter bed is freshly cleaned, the loss of head
through it is usually between 0.45 to 0.75m with the effluent discharging filtered water as its output.
As the filter bed gets clogged the loss of head increase necessitating a greater filtering head till it is
2.5m.

Filter washing:

• As the filter is drained out leaving a

few cms depth of water standing
above the top of the bed,
compressed air is sent under
pressure through the under-
drainage system for about 2-3
minutes.

• The agitated mass of water and the dirt from the surface of sand is loosened. An upward flow of water
through the filter bed is sent through. This causes the sand to expand and wash off the surface deposit
which are collected in troughs and carried to wash water drains.
Characteristics and difference between
Slow sand and rapid sand filter
Pressure Filter:

It is a rapid sand filter which is in closed steel cylinder. All operations are similar to rapid sand filter
except that the coagulated water is directly applied to the filter without mixing and flocculation.
These are used for small water supplies where water is received under pressure, which can be used
to force water under pressure through the filters.
Disinfection of water:
Disinfection of water:

The treatment of water with chemicals to kill bacteria is termed as disinfection of water.

1. Chlorination: is the application of small quantities of chlorine or chlorine compounds. The

amount of cl2 added depends on the chlorine demand of water which is the difference between the
amount of cl2 added and the amount of cl2 remaining at the end of contact period of 10-20min.

The effect of chlorine as a disinfectant is principally dependent upon the period of contact and the
concentration of chlorine in water.

Application: Cl2 is applied by any of the following methods:

a) As dry Chlorine gas drawn from the liquid cl2 cylinder, it is applied directly to the water supply
through diffusers. Not suitable method as it corrodes the pipes.

b) As Cl2 solution mixing Cl2 gas with water.

c) In powder form as hypochlorites, bleaching powder [Ca(OCl)2] or sodium hypochlorite.

2.Post chlorination: Cl2 is generally applied after all other treatment have been given to water
supply.
3.Pre chlorination: is application of Cl2 preceding filteration, either added to pipes of raw water
pumps or to the mixing basins. It reduces bacterial load on filters and oxidizes excessive organic
matter thereby reducing odour and taste.

4. Double chlorination: is application of Cl2 at two points in the treatment process. Advantages are
greater removal of bacteria, reduced load on filters, greater factor of safety, control of algae growth.

5. Super chlorination: is application to water of an excess amount of Cl2.

6. Break point chlorination: also termed free residual chlorination involves addition of sufficient Cl2
so as to oxidize all organic matter, reducing substances and free ammonia in raw water leaving
behind mainly free available Cl2 which possess strong disinfection action against pathogens.

The 4 stages are:

A- Destruction of Cl2 by reducing compounds.

B- Formation of chloro-organic compounds and chloramine
C- Destruction of chloro organic compounds and chloramine
D- formation of free available Cl2.
 Methods of Disinfection:

• The addition of Cl2 at the break

point(dip) is termed as break point
chlorination.

• This indicates the point at which

free residuals begin to appear.
Usually, all tastes, odors disappear
resulting in appearance of waters
free from bad taste and odors.

Ozonization:

• Ozone is an unstable isotope of oxygen containing 3 atoms of Oxygen O3 which while changing to
the stable molecular form O2 releases Nascent Oxygen O.

• The nascent Oxygen reduces organic matter present in water without the production of
objectionable taste and odour as with chlorines. It is considered as one of the practical method of
disinfecting water containing bacterial spores. however, it is costly, leaves less residual chlorine
and not suitable for turbid water.
Methods of Disinfection:

Ultra violet rays:

• it is an effective method for disinfecting of clear water and effective in killing all types of
bacteria, cysts and spores.

• The rays are generated by passing electric current through mercury vapour lamp enclosed in
quartz bulb. water is passed over the lamp.

• The effective penetration of the rays in water is for a depth of 30cm. This process has the
advantage of causing no taste and odour and no danger of overdoes, but its cost is high and
no residual action, thus used in small installations and swimming pools.
Methods of Disinfection:

Excess Lime:
• The application of lime for softening and disinfecting water.
Coliform reduction is as high as 99 %, but becomes necessary to remove excess lime through
recarbonization.

Iodine and Bromine:

• Their use is normally restricted to small water supplies such as army camps and
swimming pools. They are cheaply available in the form of pellets. For heavily polluted water, dosage
may be doubled. Only objectionable is the resulting medicinal taste.

Potassium permanganate:
• commonly known as lal pani, its action is principally based on oxidizing capacity on organic matter.
Effective on killing cholera vibrio but not other diseases. Also causes coating on glass and porcelain
vessels, hence not preferred.
Assignment Questions:

1. List the objectives of treating water.

2. What are the various processes required to remove the various types of impurities?

3. Give a treatment sketch showing various processes required in treating a river water
from the source.

4. Explain the filtration process in a neat sketch.