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public health
Written By:
Archis Ambulkar
Stephen T. Schroth
Jordan K. Lanfair
Water purification, process by which undesired chemical compounds, organic and inorganic
materials, and biological contaminants are removed from water. That process also includes
distillation (the conversion of a liquid into vapour to condense it back to liquid form) and
deionization (ion removal through the extraction of dissolved salts). One major purpose of water
purification is to provide clean drinking water. Water purification also meets the needs of
medical, pharmacological, chemical, and industrial applications for clean and potable water. The
purification procedure reduces the concentration of contaminants such as suspended particles,
parasites, bacteria, algae, viruses, and fungi. Water purification takes place on scales from the
large (e.g., for an entire city) to the small (e.g., for individual households).
Most communities rely on natural bodies of water as intake sources for water purification and for
day-to-day use. In general, these resources can be classified as groundwater or surface water and
commonly include underground aquifers, creeks, streams, rivers, and lakes. With recent
technological advancements, oceans and saltwater seas have also been used as alternative water
sources for drinking and domestic use.
All there is to know about one of the most effective public health programs of the last century.
Regular household methods such as boiling water or using an activated-carbon filter can remove
some water contaminants. Although those methods are popular because they can be used widely
and inexpensively, they often do not remove more dangerous contaminants. For example, natural
spring water from artesian wells was historically considered clean for all practical purposes, but
it came under scrutiny during the first decade of the 21st century because of worries over
pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemicals from the surface entering wells. As a result, artesian
wells were subjected to treatment and batteries of tests, including tests for the parasite
Cryptosporidium.
Not all people have access to safe drinking water. According to a 2017 report by the United
Nations (UN) World Health Organization (WHO), 2.1 billion people lack access to a safe and
reliable drinking water supply at home. Eighty-eight percent of the four billion annual cases of
diarrhea reported worldwide have been attributed to a lack of sanitary drinking water. Each year
approximately 525,000 children under age five die from diarrhea, the second leading cause of
death, and 1.7 million are sickened by diarrheal diseases caused by unsafe water, coupled with
inadequate sanitation and hygiene.
Process
Most water used in industrialized countries is treated at water treatment plants. Although the
methods those plants use in pretreatment depend on their size and the severity of the
contamination, those practices have been standardized to ensure general compliance with
national and international regulations. The majority of water is purified after it has been pumped
from its natural source or directed via pipelines into holding tanks. After the water has been
transported to a central location, the process of purification begins.
Pretreatment
In pretreatment, biological contaminants, chemicals, and other materials are removed from
water. The first step in that process is screening, which removes large debris such as sticks and
trash from the water to be treated. Screening is generally used when purifying surface water such
as that from lakes and rivers. Surface water presents a greater risk of having been polluted with
large amounts of contaminants. Pretreatment may include the addition of chemicals to control the
growth of bacteria in pipes and tanks (prechlorination) and a stage that incorporates sand
filtration, which helps suspended solids settle to the bottom of a storage tank.
Preconditioning, in which water with high mineral content (hard water) is treated with sodium
carbonate (soda ash), is also part of the pretreatment process. During that step, sodium carbonate
is added to the water to force out calcium carbonate, which is one of the main components in
shells of marine life and is an active ingredient in agricultural lime. Preconditioning ensures that
hard water, which leaves mineral deposits behind that can clog pipes, is altered to achieve the
same consistency as soft water.
Prechlorination, which is often the final step of pretreatment and a standard practice in many
parts of the world, has been questioned by scientists. During the prechlorination process, chlorine
is applied to raw water that may contain high concentrations of natural organic matter. This
organic matter reacts with chlorine during the disinfection process and can result in the formation
of disinfection by-products (DBPs), such as trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids, chlorite, and
bromate. Exposure to DBPs in drinking water can lead to health issues. Worries stem from the
practice’s possible association with stomach and bladder cancer and the hazards of releasing
chlorine into the environment.
Water in rivers or lakes is rarely clean enough for human consumption if it is not first treated or
purified. Groundwater, too, often needs some level of treatment to render it potable. The primary
objective of water treatment is to protect the health…
Other purification steps
After pretreatment, chemical treatment and refinement can occur. That process includes
coagulation, a step in which chemicals are added that cause small particles suspended in the
water to clump together. Flocculation follows, which mixes the water with large paddles so that
coagulated particles can be brought together into larger clumps (or “floc”) that slowly settle on
the bottom of the tank or basin.
After the majority of the suspended particles have settled, water exits the flocculation basin and
then enters a sedimentation basin. Sedimentation basins move treated waters along through the
purification process while allowing remaining particles to settle. Sludge forms that appear on the
floor of the tank are removed and treated. From that basin, water is moved to the next step,
filtration, which removes the remaining suspended particles and unsettled floc in addition to
many microorganisms and algae.
Disinfection is the final step in water purification. During that step, harmful microbes, such as
bacteria, viruses, and protozoa, are killed through the addition of disinfectant chemicals.
Disinfection usually involves a form of chlorine, especially chloramines or chlorine dioxide.
Chlorine is a toxic gas, resulting in some danger from release associated with its use. To avoid
those risks, some water treatment plants use ozone, ultraviolet radiation, or hydrogen peroxide
disinfection instead of chlorine. Other purification methodologies include ultrafiltration for
specific dissolved substances, ion exchange to remove metal ions, and fluoridation to prevent
tooth decay.
In certain areas of the world that do not have access to water treatment plants, alternative
methods of purification must be used. Those methods include boiling, granular activated-carbon
filtering, distillation, reverse osmosis, and direct contact membrane distillation.
In an effort to meet stringent environmental regulations and to satisfy the rising water demands
of growing populations, many water treatment plants have employed smart technologies to
increase operations reliability. Water sustainability improvements, which can increase the energy
efficiency of a plant and reduce its carbon footprint, often include the optimization of chemical
use, a minimization of waste generation, and the use of solar or wind energy. Additionally, with
the advancement of sophisticated technologies, water treatment processes have incorporated
complex instrumentation and process control systems. Use of online analytical instruments,
supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, and dedicated software have resulted
in automation and computerization of treatment processes with the provision for remote
operations. Such innovations can improve system operations significantly to achieve consistent
water quality with minimal supervision, especially in larger system configurations.