Water Treatment Basics
By Dave Kettner

The term ‘water treatment’ typically refers to two distinct areas: water purification and sewage treatment. There is a finite amount of water no the earth. We use clean water for drinking and cooking as well as to clean our bodies, homes and possessions. Because there is a finite amount of clean water to go around, it is important that we are able to separate used and dirtied water from clean water.

Water purification is when contaminants are removed from water in order to produce drinking water that is pure enough for human and animal consumption. There are many substances that are removed from water during water purification processes. These include bacteria, algae, fungi, viruses and man made pollutants.

Water can never be said to be completely pure, as there are a number of things that can be removed or left in water and have the water remain perfectly drinkable. Also, water as been shown to interact with he environment rather instantly. For example, freshly cleaned water will immediately take up carbon dioxide from the air in a given environment.

Sewage is a process that removes most of the contaminants from sewage or wastewater. Typically a sewage



process produces both a liquid that is suitable for disposal to the natural environment, and a sludge, which is the condensed waste matter that has been removed from the water.

In order to be effective, waste treatment, just like water purification process, must be carried out with a set of strict guidelines and must constantly be overlooked by human observers. There are certain types of wastewater that require particular types of specialized methods.

The most basic part of sewage is the separation of solids and liquids. This is usually accomplished using gravity and settlement. Basically, the dissolving waste is collected into a sludge and as this process continues the liquid becomes cleaner and cleaner, while the sludge component becomes more sizeable.

For a list of water technologies and definitions, visit the Wikipedia entry for water technologies at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_waste_water_treatment_technologies. There you can learn more about the different processes and technology used in the and purification of water.

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