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Drinking water from surface water

With decreasing groundwater reservoirs, alternative resources for drinking water become more and more important. Already today a tremendous amount of our tap water comes from surface water resources such as rivers and lakes.

Before surface water reaches our taps it undergoes various process steps.

Drinking water pretreatment includes coagulation and flocculation before particles are settled down in a sedimentation basin.

Coagulates alter electrical charges of particles so that they clump together and form bigger particles. Flocculants are added by gently agitating the water which will cause collision of flocs to form heavier macro flocs. In the sedimentation basin the macro flocs settle down to the tank bottom and are removed.By adding lamella clarifier modules – as provided by AET – the sedimentation process can be significantly improved.

Afterwards Water is passed through a filter made of sand, coal particles or similar materials that removes silt or other very fine solids that couldn’t be settled in the sedimentation process. Additionally, activated carbon also may be used to remove chemical contaminants.

At the disinfection stage, chlorine, ozone or other disinfectants are added to the water to destroy potentially harmful germs such as bacteria, viruses and other organisms. The water is actually overdosed with disinfectants to leave a residual amount in the water to continue to kill any pathogens in the pipelines that convey the water to users.

In a final step some plants require the mixture of air with water to reduce amounts of iron and manganese; the metal elements remain in water when oxygen is absent. The aeration is done primarily to improve the aesthetics of water: color, taste and odor.

After a few days the surface water is purified and send to its consumers until it is used and the treatment process cycle repeats.  In case of any questions contact us here: www.aqua-equip.com