Water treatment describes those industrial-scale processes used to make water more acceptable for a desired end-use. These can include use for drinking water, industry, medical and many other uses. Such processes may be contrasted with small-scale water sterilization practiced by campers and other people in wilderness areas. The goal of all water treatment process is to remove existing contaminants in the water, or reduce the concentration of such contaminants so the water becomes fit for its desired end-use. One such use is returning water that has been used back into the natural environment without adverse ecological impact.
The processes involved in treating water for drinking purpose may be solids separation using physical processes such as settling and filtration, and chemical processes such as disinfection and coagulation.
Biological processes are employed in the treatment of wastewater and these processes may include, for example, aerated lagoons, activated sludge or slow sand filters.
Read more about Water Treatment: Potable Water Purification, Sewage Treatment, In Developing Countries, Industrial Water Treatment
Famous quotes containing the words water and/or treatment:
“What’s water but the generated soul?”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“If the study of all these sciences, which we have enumerated, should ever bring us to their mutual association and relationship, and teach us the nature of the ties which bind them together, I believe that the diligent treatment of them will forward the objects which we have in view, and that the labor, which otherwise would be fruitless, will be well bestowed.”
—Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)