Unilag Water Works Visit

Organized By:
Civil Engineering Department

Co-ordinator:
Prof Akanmu

Name:
Ugbegua Emmanuel Oyere

Matric Number:
160402059
 PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVE OF VISIT
Our main goal for this trip is to learn more about the business environment and get hands-on
experience with water treatment plant parts.
Also, in the Environmental Engineering course, it is important and helpful to see how better
relationships work in the real world of work.
The reason for going to the water treatment plant is to:
1. To find out what kinds of water treatment plants use.
2. To learn about how water is cleaned.
 INTRODUCTION

As part of Environmental Engineering studies, the Civil Engineering Department at Unilag set up
a field trip to the Water Treatment Plant at Unilag. Prof. Akanmu led the group of students in
their last year of civil engineering school. There, the Unilag Water Authority set up a class about
the plant. The structure and operation of the water purification plant were explained in detail, and
a tour of the relevant areas was also offered. Students got a lot out of going to the water
purification plant at Unilag, which can clean 750,000 liters of water per hour, and learning how it
works.
Water treatment is the process of cleaning up used or raw water from a source so that it can be
used for a different purpose. The goal of water treatment is to get rid of or lower the amount of
contaminants in the water so that it can be used for what it was meant to be used for. The process
of treating water is to separate the solids from the water using physical and chemical methods.
process.
Before the water gets to the public houses, it has to go through the following water treatment
process: -

1. Collecting and storing water: A local river, lake, or reservoir is often where a city's
surface water treatment plant gets its water. There must be a way to get this water to the
place where it will be cleaned. Most of the time, the water gets to the treatment plant
through a series of pumps and pipes. At Unilag, water from the source is stored in raw
water tanks. 40% of the water comes from a borehole and 60% comes from the Lagos
State Water Corporation. The tank has a gauge, that falls and rises to measure the water
level.
V=LxBxH
H = 3.6m
L = 17.08m
B = 12.20m
The capacity of the water tank = 750000 litre
Raw water is stored here and passed to the aeration tank. The raw water is dark brown or
rusty in color.

Aeration: Aeration is a good way to get rid of dissolved gases like radon and carbon
dioxide, as well as some problems with taste and smell like methane and hydrogen
 sulfide, and volatile organic compounds like MTBE or industrial solvents. It also works
well to get rid of iron and manganese that have been dissolved. The pH of water goes up
when it gets air.
2. Aeration treatment is when a lot of air is pumped through water and then let out of the
water. The air makes the gases or compounds that are dissolved in the water rise to the
surface. The air and the pollutants that come out of the water are let out. Iron and
manganese move from being dissolved to being solid because of the air. The solid
minerals then settle out of the solution. The water can then go through a filter, which will
catch the iron and manganese.
Raw water from the water tank goes to the aeration tank, where it is chlorinated with a
dose that has already been set.

3. Chlorine predosing: The chlorine is already in the water from the aeration tank. The most
common way chlorine is used to treat water is to make it safe to drink. As a disinfectant,
it has both good and bad things about it. Other methods of disinfection, like ultraviolet
light and ozone, are also effective, but they don't stop pathogens from growing back like
chlorination does. When water treatment plants are far from where the water will be used,
chlorination is the best way to make sure the water is safe. The goal for chlorine in the
water will be between 0.2 and 1 mg/L.
In addition to cleaning the water, chlorine can be used to oxidize iron, manganese, and
hydrogen sulfide to make it easier to get rid of them, change the color of the water, and
help with sedimentation and filtration.

4. Filtration: From the top, water that has been cleaned goes into the filters. The water flows
down through the filters and into a drain system at the bottom of the unit, where it is
collected. Filters use many different kinds of things (called "media") to work. Most of the
time, sand and gravel are used. Granular activated carbon is now used as the media of
choice in many conventional plants because it not only does a good job of filtering out
particles mechanically, but it also gets rid of organic compounds that can cause problems
with taste and smell.

5. Disinfection: After the filtration process, the water is about as clear and clean as it can
get. But there might still be some bacteria and viruses left. A disinfection process must be
used to make sure that these are gone. There are many different kinds of chlorine, such as
chlorine gas, chlorine dioxide, hypochlorite (bleach), and others. The water is treated by
adding chlorine in the right amount to kill all microorganisms. The chlorine levels in the
treated water are carefully and constantly checked. They have to add enough chlorine to
 make sure the water is completely clean, but they can't add too much because that can
make the water taste and smell bad when it gets to the consumer.
The water that has been cleaned goes into the booster pump in the reservoir, which pumps
water into underground boosters.

6. Storage: After the water has been cleaned, it is put in a tank. In case of an emergency,
there should always be a lot of water available. These can include things like fires, floods,
and loss of power.

At Unilag, water is pumped from the underground booster reservoir to Horton square,
which is a storage tank and distribution point for large amounts of liquid. The water tank
can hold 60,000 gallons of water. The sphere is the highest point in Unilag. Because of its
height, the pressure is just right for gravity-based distribution.

7. Distribution: So, how does the water get from your kitchen faucet to your sink? In what is
called a "distribution system," the water is sent through underground pipes to all parts of
Unilag. The PH, the amount of iron, and the amount of lead in the water meet WHO
standards.

QUALITY CONTROL LABORATORY

This is done to make sure that the water treatment works and meets the WHO and
Nigerian standards for water quality. Samples of the water are taken every day at
different parts of the water treatment process.
Procedures and parameters for testing can be put into four groups: physical, chemical,
bacterial, and microscopic.
 Physical tests indicate properties detectable by the senses.
 Chemical tests determine the amounts of mineral and organic substances that
affect water quality.
 Bacteriological tests show the presence of bacteria, characteristic of fecal
pollution.

Physical Test: Colour, turbidity, total solids, dissolved solids, suspended solids, odor, and taste
are recorded.

Colour: The colour of water can be caused by minerals like iron and manganese or by things that
come from plants like algae and weeds. Color tests show how well the water treatment system
works.

Turbidity: There are suspended solids and colloidal matter in the water, which makes it look
cloudy. It could be because dredging has made the soil erode or because microorganisms are
growing. Filtration costs more when there is a lot of turbidity. If there are sewage solids in the
water, pathogens may be trapped in the particles and not be killed by the chlorine.
Odour and Taste: The presence of living microorganisms, decaying organic matter (like weeds
and algae), or industrial waste with ammonia, phenols, halogens, and hydrocarbons is linked to
smell and taste. Fish get this taste, which makes them not good to eat. Chlorination can mask the
smell and taste of some contaminants, but when it is added to water that is already dirty with
detergents, algae, and other wastes, it makes the water smell bad.

Chemical Tests: Estimates are made of the pH, hardness, presence of a set of chemical
parameters, biocides, highly toxic chemicals, and B.O.D.

pH: The pH scale shows how many hydrogen ions are in a solution. It shows how acidic or
alkaline a certain amount of water is. High alkalinity is shown by a value of 9.5 or more, while
acidity is shown by a value of 3 or less. Low pH levels help chlorination work well, but they
make corrosion worse. In the marine environment, most living things can't survive at values
below 4. The pH level of water should be between 6.5 and 8.5. The water in Harbour Basin can
be between 6 and 9.

B.O.D: It is the amount of oxygen that microorganisms need to keep organic matter from
breaking down in an aerobic environment. If the B.O.D. is high, it means that there isn't enough
oxygen for life and that there is organic pollution.

Tests are also done on the TDS, conductivity, hardness, and chlorine residue. A multiparameter
photometer is sometimes used for more than one thing.

Bacteriological Tests: Because of how they work and how much they cost, analytical methods
for finding harmful organisms can't be used for routine water quality monitoring. Bacteriological
analysis can only show that, at the time of the test, contamination or bacteria that show feces
polluted the water could or could not be shown in a given sample of water using certain culture
methods. Also, the results of the routine bacteriological tests must always be understood in light
of a full understanding of the water supplies, including where the water comes from, how it is
treated, and how it is distributed.

The fact that microbial infections can be spread through water has led to the development of
routine testing methods to make sure that water meant for human consumption is not polluted by
human waste. Even though it is now possible to find many pathogens in water, isolating and
counting them is often difficult and takes a lot of time. So, it is not possible to check drinking
water for every possible microbial pathogen that could be present if it gets contaminated. A
better idea is to look for organisms that are usually found in the feces of humans and other warm-
blooded animals. These organisms can be used to measure pollution from feces as well as the
effectiveness of water treatment and disinfection. When such organisms are found, it means that
there is feces and, therefore, intestinal pathogens.
 CONCLUSION

Water is a very important part of life, whether it's for daily tasks or for our health. This field trip
taught us about how water is cleaned on a large scale and made us aware of the quality of water,
especially at Unilag, where a lot of students and people who live there use it. Also, the trip
showed us how hard it is to give people water straight from the main source. So, thanks to the
people in charge and the workers who worked on this project to make sure people's health and
comfort.