Major Unit Processes in a Conventional Water Treatment Plant
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Introduction
Bringing water to a safe sanitary quality is an issue that important to everyone. The source of particular water will help in determining its quality and the processes required to treat it. In general, groundwaters usually have a much better quality than surface waters. Thus, more unit processes are required for the treatment of surface waters such as the North Saskatchewan River (See Figure 1). This paper examines coagulation/flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection which are the four major unit processes in a conventional surface water treatment plant.
Coagulation and Flocculation
Coagulation and flocculation consist of adding a chemical reagent to water which combines with non-settleable colloidal solids to produce a rapid-settling floc. Flocs are small, gelatinous solids. A portion of the solids dispersed in water are non-settleable suspended materials that have a particle size ranging from 10-7mm to 10-1mm. Colloids are fine materials suspended in water that have a particle size ranging from 10-6mm to 10-3mm and thus a significant fraction of the non-settleable material is colloidal particles. When the colloids stay in water and do not settle by gravity the system is stable...