Sciknow Publications Ltd.

RSE 2014, 1(2):21-28

Open Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy DOI: 10.12966/rse.09.02.2014
©Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)

Water: Its Constituents & Treatment Methods

Blessy Baby Mathew*, N. B. Krishnamurthy
Department of Biotechnology, Sapthagiri College of Engineering, Bangalore-57, Karnataka, India
*Corresponding author (Email: blessym21@gmail.com)

Abstract - Even though water is the main source for drinking, agriculture and industry, but its quality has been degraded due to
the spillage of hazardous chemicals and inappropriate discarding of waste materials, which has lead to the contamination of
groundwater becoming a major issue of concern worldwide. This must be remediated and controlled to safeguard the
environment and for the betterment of people. This review gives an overview of the groundwater, its contaminants, biological
treatment methods and remediation technologies. The description, applicability and limitations of various processes is also been
presented.
Keywords - Groundwater Contamination, Remediation, Sedimentation, Denitrification, Ion Exchange

1. Introduction
Ground water has been exploited for domestic use, livestock
and irrigation since the beginning. Although the natural
occurrence of ground water is still a mystery, but successful
methods of bringing it to the surface is been developed.
Groundwater constitutes about two thirds of the freshwater
resources of the world [1]. 40% of the drinking water comes
from groundwater and about 30–40% of the water is used for
agriculture. Around 97% of the rural population still depends
upon the direct groundwater resource for drinking [2]. The
contamination of groundwater by diverse anthropogenic
organic compounds is a major problem in agricultural and
industrialized environment [3]. Groundwater pollution results
in migration of contaminants causing toxicity in humans
triggering free radicals [4] leading to aberrations at the gene
level [5] and contamination of drinking water supply [6].
During the last two decades different groundwater cleanup
technologies have been developed. In many applications, Fig. 1. Classification of sub-surface water [9]
prior to treatment, contaminated ground- water is pumped
above ground. One advantage of such a system is that
pumping may stop further relocation of contaminants [7]. 2. Significance of Groundwater
Fig.1 shows the classification of sub-surface water. Many
Groundwater is considered to be more advantageous over
organic environmental contaminants are bio-degradable
surface water as it has no suspended matter; it rarely contains
under aerobic and/or anaerobic conditions. Biodegradation of
pathogenic bacteria, unless contaminated by human activity
groundwater contaminants is a composite procedure and may
[10]. It is clear and colorless unless tainted with humic
be restricted by the toxic contaminant itself or other inhibitory
material. The groundwater temperature is comparatively
components, contaminant or nutrient (N and P) bioavailability,
constant and is comparable to, or greater than, the mean air
physical circumstances (e.g. temperature, salinity, pH) or
temperature which is above the land facade [11,12]. The
microbial competition [7,8].
chemical nature of groundwater is inclined by the minerals
and gases that react with the water in its moderately slow
passage through rocks and sediments.
22 Open Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy (2014) 21-28
3. Groundwater Constituents
Industrial effluents add up to ground water deterioration
enormously and their treatment becomes quite difficult when
these effluents are contaminated with heavy metals. They are
the most difficult-to-treat due to their substantial amount of
toxic substances [13]. Colour is the first signs of
contamination recognized in ground water and due to their
high resistance towards degradation, the effluents like paints;
dyes and heavy metals tend to be unchanged by conventional
treatment systems [14]. Its presence, even though at a very
low concentration can also cause human health disorders [15].
Contaminants may supply or accept electrons in various
biochemical redox reactions. They may be incompletely
altered or may even become mineralized to harmless end
products [7,16].
Fig. 2. Ground water contamination
(source: The Groundwater foundation, C. Mansfield)
The superior fraction of the soluble constituents in the
ground water is from soluble minerals in soils and
sedimentary rocks. The more common soluble constituents
include calcium, sodium, bicarbonate and sulphate ions.
Chloride ion derived from intruded sea water, connate water,
evapo-transpiration concentrating salts, and sewage wastes is
another common constituent. Nitrate can be a natural
constituent but elevated concentrations could result in
pollution. Ground waters can be classified according to the
most dominant percentage of cations and anions being present
based on concentrations in equivalents per million [17].
Table 1. Dissolved constituents in groundwater [18]
4. Water Treatment Methods
Rain infiltration of the soil and subsurface results in the
groundwater, and the final composition of the water are
dependent on both specific geological formations and the
residence time of the water [17]. The movement of
groundwater depends on the permeability of the water bearing
layers. Layers such as clay have a low permeability and tend
to inhibit water flow, whereas sand or chalk layers have a high
permeability and promote water flow. The type of
groundwater is defined based on a division such as main
components comprising of cations and anions, uncharged
species, trace components, gases such as CO2, H2S, CH4, O2
etc., organic compounds and anthrogenic compounds like
pesticides, chlorinated solvents and others [19]. The first few
steps come under the preliminary treatment, after which the
water is progressed for next set of treatment procedures.
4.1. Screening
Through this process, large floating objects and debris are
removed from the water. The various screens used for
screening process are manual bars, mechanical bars, drum
screen, band screen, disc screen and passive well screens.
4.2. Coagulation
The primary step destabilizes the charge on the particles.
Coagulants with charges opposite to those of the suspended
solids are added to water to neutralize the negative charges on
dispersed non-settlable solids. The selection of coagulant
depends upon the nature of the suspended solids to be
detached, the raw water setting, the facility design and the
cost of the amount of essential chemicals [20, 21].
4.3. Flocculation
Flocculation, a gentle mixing stage, increases the particle size
from submicroscopic microfloc to visible suspended particles.
The microflocs are brought into contact with each other
through the process of slow mixing. Collisions of the
microfloc particles cause them to bond to produce larger,
visible flocs called pinflocs. The floc size continues to build
 Open Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy (2014) 21-28 23

through additional collisions and interaction with inorganic

polymers formed by the coagulant or with organic polymers
added. It requires around 20-45 minutes for this step to take
place [22].

4.4. Sedimentation
Sedimentation basins are used in conventional plants.
Direct-filtration plants skip the sedimentation stage and go
directly to filtration. Detention times for sedimentation are in
the range of 1 to 4 hours [23, 24].

4.5. Filtration
It is the final step in removing suspended matter. It is the
process of passing water through a material bed in order to
remove impurities. Although the sand filter was often
sufficient to reduce the concentration of target parameters
below the stated goal, the BAC filter significantly improved
the quality of the water. The slow sand filter effectively
reduced iron and arsenic concentrations. The BAC filter
effectively reduced the DOC to less than 1 mg/L. Together,
the sand and BAC filters reduced colour and turbidity [25,26].

4.5.1. Slow Rate Gravity Filtration

It has low filtration rates ranging from 45 to 150 gpd/sqft
(0.03 to 0.10 gpm/sqft) and the filter media used is 24” to 30”
deep silica sand bed [27].
4.5.2. Rapid Rate Gravity Filtration
In rapid filtration sand is commonly used as the filter
medium1 but the process is quite different from slow sand
filtration. This is so because much coarser sand is used with
an effective grain size in the range 0.4-1.2 mm, and the
filtration rate is much higher, generally between 5 and 15
m3/m2.h (120-360 m3/m2.day) [28, 29].
4.6. Bioreactors
Bioreactors have been utilized with success for waste-water
treatment for over 100 years. Bioreactor processes can be
distinguished on the basis of biomass retardment mechanism.
Biomass grows on a carrier in attached growth, i.e. biofilm
systems or as a suspension in sludge processes [30].
Table 3. Benefits of diverse bioreactor designs
Fig. 3. Bioreactors design for water treatment [30]
Mostly, the traditional methods of water treatment are
unable to eliminate salts and according to the EIPPCB
(European Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control
Bureau), the textile industry produce more than 0.2 million of
tons of salts in the environment every year which leads to
aquatic ecosystems equilibrium alteration. Moreover, salts in
surface waters can affect also the agricultural activity and
salinization of underground fresh water can critically
compromise the drinking water resources [31, 32].
4.7. Aeration
Oxygen in the air will react with hydrogen sulfide to form an
odorless, dissolved form of sulfur called sulfate. Some yellow
sulfur particles may also form after the water is aerated. In an
aeration system, compressed air can be injected into the water
system (Figure 4). The air must then be removed from the
water to prevent knocking or air-blocks in the water system.
Another approach is to spray water into a non-pressurized
tank. A second pump is needed to re-pressurize the water
system (Figure 5). It is common for odors to be present near
these aeration systems as hydrogen sulfide gas is released
from the water [33, 34, 35].
24 Open Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy (2014) 21-28
Fig. 4. Compressed air aeration system [36]
Fig. 5. Spray aeration system [37]
4.8. Methane Removal
Methane (CH4) is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon that is
colorless, odorless and tasteless. Methane is the chief
constituent of natural gas, and high concentrations of the gas
can cause oxygen-deficient atmospheres, flammable
situations, or explosive environments [38, 39]. Methane is
lighter than air and very often can be removed from a well
when it is properly vented to the atmosphere. Proper venting
is extremely important and can significantly reduce the
amount of methane, as it can trigger an explosion in
enclosed/confined spaces containing oxygen, coupled with an
ignition source (an open flame or an electrical spark).
Methane can act as an asphyxiate by displacing air in
structures and replacing oxygen in animal circulatory systems;
burning methane also can produce other toxic gases such as
carbon monoxide [38,40,41].
4.9. Hydrogen Sulfide Removal
Hydrogen sulfide is formed by sulfur bacteria that may occur
naturally in water. These bacteria use the sulfur in decaying
plants, rocks, or soil as their food or energy source and as a
by-product produce hydrogen sulfide. The sulfur bacteria do
not cause disease, but their presence in water can cause a bad
taste or odor. Water containing hydrogen sulfide usually does
not pose a health risk, but does give water a nuisance "rotten
egg" smell and taste. Water supplies with as little as 1.0 ppm
(part per million) hydrogen sulfide are corrosive, may tarnish
copper and silverware, and occasionally release a black
material that stains laundry and porcelain [42, 43, 44, 45, 46].
4.10. Carbon Filters
Very small amounts of hydrogen sulfide can be removed from
water with activated carbon filters. The hydrogen sulfide is
adsorbed onto the surface of the carbon particles. Periodically,
the activated carbon filter must be replaced depending on the
amount of hydrogen sulfide in the water. Moderate to high
levels of hydrogen sulfide in water will require very frequent
filter replacement [47, 48].
4.11. Ion Exchange
Ion exchange (IX) is the most broadly working nitrate
treatment technology, used at well sites or other points of
entry into potable water division systems. Such systems
usually treat less than one million gallons of water per day
(MGD) to as much as 10 MGD. Although nitrate-selective IX
resins have been urbanized, most are more selective toward
sulfate than nitrate, therefore the impact of sulfate on nitrate
exchange capacity must be considered [49]. These
technologies are simple to design, operate and monitor. They
are cost-effective for smaller applications such as direct
treatment of groundwater at well sites, usually feature fully
automated regeneration sensors and equipment, and are
regenerated using sodium chloride [50, 51, 52]. It is most
suitable for waters with total dissolved solids (TDS)
concentrations of less than 500 mg/l. Salts and organics in
water eventually foul resins, but many systems operate for 5
to 10 years without requiring resin replacement. The primary
disadvantage of these systems is the production and costly
disposal of concentrated brines, which can contain high
concentrations of sodium chloride, nitrate, sulfate, and
arsenate. Brines can be disposed of in sewers where adequate
dilution is available, but long-term salinity control in some
areas may limit this option in the future. Research is now
underway to biologically treat ion exchange regeneration
brines to remove nitrate and prolong their use prior to disposal
[53]. Another major challenge is nitrate removal and the
release of nitrosamines or their precursors, which appear to be
by-products or impurities in the resins that are used [54].
Pump-and-treat technologies have been used to clean up the
source zone or plume of the contaminants to avoid further
contamination of the groundwater by dissolution and
dispersion [30].
4.12. Metal removal and Softening
Removal of heavy metals is an important process in the water
treatment [55]. After the storage tank, the water was softened
to reduce hardness for washing and bathing. An ultraviolet
(UV) disinfection lamp was installed after the softener on one
ground water system to deal with microbiological problems
[56]. For drinking and cooking water at each site, a reverse
osmosis (RO) membrane, complete with booster pump, was
installed as an additional protective barrier at the kitchen sink.
The RO unit reduces sulphate, sodium, total dissolved solids
and hardness, which are parameters which the BAC filter will
 Open Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy (2014) 21-28
not treat [57, 58]. The RO unit will also remove
micro-organisms including bacteria, viruses and parasites,
providing it is properly operated and maintained [59].
4.13. Pre-chlorination and chlorination
The processes involved before chlorination comes under
pre-chlorination step. Chlorine will quickly react with
hydrogen sulfide to form a tasteless, odorless, yellow particle.
A small amount of chlorine, usually household laundry bleach,
can be automatically added to any size water system to
remove hydrogen sulfide. The yellow sulfur particles that
remain in the water will form a yellow film on clothing and
fixtures [60, 61]. A sand or aggregate filter can remove the
yellow particles. Backwashing the filter is necessary every
few days, or every few weeks, to flush out the accumulated
sulfur particles [62].
Fig. 6. Chlorination system for hydrogen sulfide removal [63]
4.14. Disinfection
New wells, or old installations after rehabilitation, usually are
bacterially contaminated and should be disinfected prior to
being placed in service. Chlorine always should be used
outdoors or in well-ventilated places because breathing the
fumes is dangerous. In heavy concentrations, chlorine also is
harmful to skin and clothing. The chlorine must be thoroughly
mixed with the water, and then sufficient chlorine contact
time must be provided to kill all disease-causing and nuisance
organisms [64,65,66].
4.15. Fluoridation
This step will remove the fluoride concentration in water.
25
Fig. 7. Unit processes of ground water [67]
Nitrate in drinking waters poses human health risks, and
nitrate contamination of groundwater has become widespread
nowadays. In a study of more than 40 states in US, nitrate was
the most frequently reported groundwater contaminant of
concern [68, 69]. Most of the wells with elevated nitrate levels
are in the areas that are or were used for agriculture. Nitrate is
a stable, highly soluble ion that is difficult to remove by
traditional coagulation or adsorption processes. Current
options for treating nitrate contaminated groundwater include
blending and ion exchange, the most common approaches, as
well as membrane separation and biological de-nitrification.
Chemical de-nitrification technologies are still in
development [70, 71, 72].
4.16. Blending
High-nitrate groundwater is largely managed by blending the
groundwater with surface water that has lower nitrate
concentrations.
4.17. Biosorption
Among various biological approaches, biosorption can be
seen as one of the most valuable choice for the removal of
pollutants from water sources. Biosorption is a
physico-chemical process, in which the removal of substances
from solution by biological material takes place. The main
advantage includes high efficiency, cost effectiveness and
good capacity of removing pollutants from large volumes.
There is a major need to generate performance data on real or
simulated industrial effluents, since many biotic and abiotic
factors can affect biosorption process [73, 74, 75, 76].
5. Modern Water Treatment Processes
5.1. Biological De-nitrification
Microbe-induced nitrate reduction can be accomplished using
26 Open Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy (2014) 21-28
organic carbon electron donors such as methanol or acetic
acid, or inorganic electron donors such as hydrogen or
reduced sulfur. However, the dissolved oxygen content of the
water must be lowered to about 0.1 mg/l for reduction to occur.
Recent advances in hollow-fiber membranes allow
autotrophic bacteria to grow on the outside of the membrane
in nitrate laden water while hydrogen gas is slowly supplied
from within the membranes [70]. Nitrate and oxygen
permeate into the biofilms growing on the membranes and are
reduced in the anoxic environment within the biofilm; this
approach shows significant promise for nitrate reduction.
Biological de-nitrification systems do not produce
concentrated brine streams, but biofilm growth must be
managed [77]. The most significant drawbacks of biological
systems are that they require start-up time after prolonged
periods of closure (such as in response to seasonal water
demand), require more operator support than non-biological
systems, and are less mature in the marketplace than IX
systems.
5.2. Chemical De-nitrification
Metals such as platinum, palladium, tin and copper can
chemically reduce nitrate to other forms, but they usually
require a low pH, often need the addition of hydrogen gas or
another strong reductant, and perform best with added heat.
As a result, full-scale treatment systems based on these
catalysts are not yet used for drinking-water applications
[70,78]. Zero-valent iron (Fe0) has gained the most attention
as a nitrate reductant system. Both in-situ groundwater and
above-ground treatment systems have been demonstrated at
several sites and commercial vendors have recently entered
the marketplace. Oxidation of the iron frees electrons, which
are then available for nitrate reduction [70]. Like biological
de-nitrification, these systems require low dissolved-oxygen
levels to proceed favorably. The precise reactions for
zero-valent iron and other chemical reduction processes are
not well known for groundwater matrices but in most cases
nitrate reduction in groundwater does not proceed to
innocuous gases as it does in distilled water or in biological
de-nitrification systems [54]. The bioden process is based on
the natural biological de-nitrification, which takes place in
soil and ground water. However, in this process the
de-nitrification is enhanced under controlled conditions in a
fixed bed biofilter. In order to meet drinking water
requirements, the de-nitrification process needs an aerobic
post-treatment. It consists of the following steps such as
substrate dosing, denitrifying biofilter, aeration,
flock-filtration, polishing filter, safety disinfection, backwash
system and backwash water recycling. As substrate a carbon
and phosphate source are dosed into the raw water. Normally
all other nutrients are normally sufficiently present in the raw
water [79].
6. Treatment Processes for Heavily
Polluted Water
6.1. Dissolved Air Floatation (DAF)
The DAF range of water treatment plants excel in treating
lake and reservoir water containing high levels of colour,
algae and turbidity. The treatment plants also provide
excellent treatment of cold water with high levels of iron and
manganese [80,81]. This process offers exceptional algae
removal, ease of operation, good tolerance to changing raw
water surroundings, rapid start-up, low volumes of plant
waste and notably lower building costs [82,83].
6.2. Ozonation
It is a water treatment process usually performed to destroy
bacteria and other microorganisms through an infusion of
ozone. Specifically it targets cryptosporidium, bacteria and
other naturally-occurring organisms. It also reduces the
formation of tri-halo-methanes (THMs), which result from the
interaction of chlorine and naturally-occurring organic
material in the source water [84, 85].
6.3. Granular activates carbon (GAC) adsorption
GAC has an extremely large amount of adsorption surface
area, generally around 73 acre/lb (650m2/gram) to 112 acre/lb
(1000 m2/gram). GAC is made of tiny clusters of carbon
atoms stacked upon one another, and is produced by heating
the carbon source (coal, lignite, wood, nutshells or peat) in the
absence of air which produces a high carbon content material
[86, 87, 88].
6.4. Membrane based processes
Reverse osmosis (RO) and electro-dialysis (ED) are
expensive options to remove nitrate, and are primarily used to
treat waters high in TDS rather than solely nitrate pollution.
These methods are currently used for nitrate removal in
smaller communities and military bases [77, 89]. ED-based
systems utilize electric current to pass positive ions (cations)
or negative ions (anions) through a semi permeable
membrane. The current can be adjusted to pass only cations
and reject anions, such as nitrate. However, these
membrane-based technologies require significant external
energy inputs, which lead to high operating costs [90]. Both
RO and ED produce concentrated brine streams that require
disposal; pretreatment is usually necessary to prevent
membrane fouling. Membrane treatment processes such as
these can be a viable treatment option for municipalities with
existing membrane technologies [91, 92, 93].
7. Conclusion
Treating groundwater for domestic or farm uses should
include consideration of disinfection to insure a safe sanitary
quality, iron removal to prevent staining of porcelain fixtures
and laundry, softening to remove objectionable
concentrations of calcium and magnesium, and aeration to
 Open Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy (2014) 21-28
eliminate offensive or harmful gases. In some cases, where
the groundwater is too highly mineralized for human
consumption, demineralization of limited quantities of the
water for drinking and cooking may be justifiable. To
accurately determine the type of treatment that may be desired,
water samples should be submitted for bacterial and mineral
analysis. There is a lot of scope in tracing out the latest
contaminants affecting the quality of ground water which
could be removed.
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