Water and wastewater treatment

Water and waste water treatment

THE VARIOUS METHODS AND SYSTEMS EMPLOYED FOR THE TREATMENT OF WASTEWATER AND WATER

Water treatment is the process of ensuring water is safe and acceptable for use by simply improving the quality of the water. The final use for the water could be for human consumption like drinking, irrigation, industrial use, recreational activities, and so many others. It could also be for protecting the aquatic ecology system by safely returning the water back to the environment. The process of water treatment includes the removal of pollutants and unwanted substances or particles or to basically reduce their composition and refine the water to make it fit and safe for the final use. Water treatment is very important to humans as it helps to reduce the risk of having diseases caused by contaminated water which leads to numerous deaths. Years back, traditional water treatments were carried out by filtration with sand and by the use of chlorine. These processes were thereafter worked on and improved for better water treatment procedures which further reduced the rate of retaining water contaminants in large amounts. There are various water treatment production processes distinctly unique to the end-use of the water.

1. DRINKING WATER TREATMENT: Drinking water treatment procedure involves the taking away of foreign matters from the water to generate refined and pure water for consumption by humans without the risk of any overtime degradation which can affect the life of the consumer. One of the greatest pathways to preventable deaths is through the consumption of contaminated water. A major substance to be removed during the treatment of drinking water is animal faeces. Like bird faeces that contain viruses, pathogenic bacteria, helminths, and protozoa. Adopting the method of using disinfectants is also very relevant in drinking water treatment. It is also very crucial to destroy micro pathogens in water by making use of chemical agents that reacts to these microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, algae, fungi, contaminants like solid on the surface of the water, and minerals particularly iron and manganese. These are the major constituents of several harms and diseases found in less developed nations or localities that do not have access to water treatment facilities. The procedures involved in the purification of water include; chemical processes that entail the use of disinfectants and coagulation process, biological processes that entail sand filtration and physical processes like filtration and settling. Water purification treatment doesn’t only involve the treatment of water but also making sure the water stays safe as it is being conveyed and disbursed after it had been treated. Therefore, water treatment also involves the addition of residual disinfectants which helps to destroy and kill contamination by bacteria during the distribution. The technologies adopted for the purification of water for drinking are well designed and developed to aid the purification process and can be used for the purification of selected sources of water.

Processes for portable drinking water treatment includes, water softening or the exchange of ions, aeration which aids the removal of the presence of iron that dissolved in infinitesimal value like manganese, pre-chlorination to control algae and contain growth of microorganisms, sedimentation for the separation of suspended solids from the surface of the water or in the floccules, filtration for the removal of tiny particles either by passing the water through a sand bed or through designated filters, coagulation which can also be called polyelectrolyte process and disinfection which involves the use of disinfectant to destroy viruses, bacteria, and pathogens.

2. TREATMENT OF INDUSTRIAL WATER: There are two major procedures for industrial water treatment and they are; cooling and boiler water treatment. The reaction of solids and the presence of bacteria in water pipes and boiler housing could result from a huge amount of adequate water treatment. Steams boilers can also get corroded and suffer from scale if they are not properly treated. These deposits of scale on boilers and pipes can bring about weakness and dangers to machinery, and more fuel would be needed to boil the same water level due to the increase in thermal resistance. Contaminated and untreated water can be a host to breeding various bacteria that are harmful to the health of the general public. Industrial water treatment also eliminates dissolved oxygen and preserves the water boiler with the appropriate alkalinity and pH levels to avoid the occurrence of corrosion in the low-pressure boilers. Proper water treatment also prevents corrosion, fouling and scale formation on a cooling water system to discard any breeding place for harmful bacteria.  

Processes for industrial water treatments include; desalination which is the treatment of saline water to produce freshwater, the processes involve distillation or osmosis and both procedures use more energy and are majorly used in areas with a high level of groundwater salinity such as coastal areas. An industry that is involved in the production of silicon wafers, metal quality processes, and space technologies requires ultrapure water. The production and treatment of water for this type of industry require the use of ion exchange, distillation processes with the aid of solid tin pieces of equipment and reverse osmosis.

FUNDAMENTALS OF WATER QUALITY MODELLING

Water quality modeling is the ability to foretell water pollution through the use of mathematically related procedures. Traditionally, water quality modeling is a process that involves the compilation of data that determine the momentum and position of contaminants in a body of water and are represented by physical agents. A model is an equation system and observation of data formulated to stimulate the various effects of different strategies of water quality to come up with solutions for the improvement of water quality. Water quality models could be created by, synthesizing mathematical replica, effectively analyzing the system, formulation of objectives and models, model structure creation, model calibration, method of solution formulation and validation of models. The fundamental standards associated with water quality modeling are;

Alkalinity and pH formulationConservation of the various states of energyPreservation of the state of momentumDissolved oxygen saturation removalThe conservation of mass balance model states.