MBARARA UNIVERSITY OF

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

EPIDEMIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL
SANITATION

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 1
WATER TREATMENT
PROCESS
PRESENTED BY
GROUP 3

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 2
GROUP 3 MEMBERS
 MUTUNGI HILLARY
 NUWASHABA NICHOLAS
 NAKANWAGI JUSTINE
 MANGENI EMMANUEL
 BABIRYE SHEBA BALISAMYUKA
 ISHIMWE MARK
 NUWEMWINE ISAAC
 MUKISA PETER
 AKAMPA JOANITA
 AYEBALE NAHWERA
 KALEMBE EUGENE
 MUGABI CLAVERLIVINGTONE
2020/BNS/004
2020/MLC/048/PS
2020/BNC/026/PS
2020/BNC/021/PS
2020/MBR/008
2020/MBR/010
2020/MBR/043
2020/BNC/023/PS
2020/MBR/049/PS
2020/BSP/018/PS
2020/MLS/054/PS
2020/MLS/081/PS
GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 3
WATER TREATMENT PROCESS
 STEPS AERATION AND COAGULATION
SCREENING OR PRE- AND
CHLORINATION FLOCCULATION

CHLORINATIO FILTRATION SEDIMENTATION

N

SUPPLEMENTA
RY
TREATMENT

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 4
WATER TREATMENT
IN CONTEXT
 By definition, water treatment refers to the process
of getting rid of all harmful substances from the
water supply which can be for human or domestic
consumption.
 These potentially harmful substances can be

biological, chemical or physical in nature.

 The water treatment process ensures that the availed

water is safe, odorless, colorless, clear, palatable.

Since there’s use of pipes for the transport of water,
the water must be non-corrosive so as not to cause
damage to pipe-work and this is effected through
the water treatment process.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 5
WATER TREATMENT CONTINUED…
 It is mostly the surface water sources i.e. lakes and
rivers that are subjected to the water treatment
process though, even the ground water from deep or
shallow wells can be subjected to minimal treatment.
 In the water treatment process, mechanized water
treatment plants are used to draw water from rivers
or reservoirs with pumps and compressors and then
followed by distribution of treated water by pipeline.
 The volume of treated water needed, quality of raw
water and economic resources available determine
the size of the treatment plant.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 6
STEPS OF THE WATER TREATMENT
PROCESS
 1. SCREENING
 This involves the removal of large floating and
suspended solids such as paper, rags and any
other debris from inflow using screens.
 This process is essential in the protection of the
water treatment plant main units such as pumps,
valves, pipelines, impellers etc by removal of the
debris that could cause damage to the
equipment or obstruct the flow of water thus
ensuring the efficient operation of the water
treatment plant.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 7
WATER TREATMENT PROCESS:
SCREENING CONTINUED..
 In the screening process, there are two types of screens
that are used i.e. the Coarse screens and fine screens.
This classification is based on whether the screen
surface is fixed or moving and the spacing.
 Coarse screens are bars of steel that are used to restrict
access of large materials into the treatment plant hence
preventing damage to the mechanical equipment. These
large materials can range from large stones to logs.
 Coarse screens are made of bars that are resistant to
corrosion, spaced 5-15cm apart and positioned at an
angle of 60 degrees to facilitate removal of collected
material by mechanical raking.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 8
A COARSE SCREEN

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 9
WATER TREATMENT PROCESS:
SCREENING CONTINUED…
 Another type of screens in the screening process are the
Fine screens. These are made up of steel bars that have a
spacing of 5-20mm apart and they are used to remove
any material that could obstruct or block pipe-work at
the water treatment plant.
 An example of a fine screen is the micro- strainer which

is made up of a stainless steel mesh rotating drum with

a mesh size of 15 micrometers to 64 micrometers . This
size is so small that even microscopic organisms in water
current such as plankton can be trapped. After being
trapped, the solids are removed from the fabric by water
jets of high pressure using clean water and thus carried
away for disposal.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 10
A MICRO-STRAINER

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 11
2. AERATION
 In this process, the water is supplied with air especially
oxygen through a series of steps. This ensures that soluble
gases such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide and
any other gaseous organic compounds that might cause
water to have an undesirable taste are removed from the
water. The removal of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide
which are acidic gases ensures that the water is less
corrosive.
 Another importance of aeration is that iron or manganese
are removed by their oxidation to insoluble forms thus
application of filtration can remove these insoluble forms.
Iron and manganese presence in water is disadvantageous
since they can cause peculiar water tastes and clothe
staining hence the need to remove them from water.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 12
AERATION CONTINUED…
 NOTE: In cases where there is excess algal
growth in the raw water which can block the
sand filter in the later stages of the water
treatment process, chlorination is applied in
addition to aeration to destroy the algae and
this is called pre-chlorination. This process
has other advantages added to it such as;
oxidizing taste and odor causing compounds,
reducing lime formation.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 13
3. COAGULATION AND
FLOCCULATION
 Coagulation is the next step after aeration. It
involves the use of a coagulant added to water to
remove suspended fine particles from water. This
takes place in a rapid mix tank where the coagulant
is dispersed rapidly by a high-speed impeller. These
particles can be of a size less than 1 micrometer.
 The mode of action of the coagulant is that it
possesses a positive electrical charge that interacts
with the negative electrical charge of the fine
particles in water hence neutralizing the negative
electrical charge.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 14
COAGULATION AND FLOCCULATION
CONTINUED…
 Due to the charge neutralization, there is
formation of soft fluffy particles called flocs
because of the fine particles aggregating
together.
 In the water treatment process, aluminium

sulphate and ferric chloride are the two most

commonly used coagulants.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 15
FLOCCULATION
 This is the next step after coagulation. Here, there is
gentle stirring of water by the paddles in a flocculation
basin whereby the flocs formed at the end of the
coagulation process come together to form larger flocs.
 In the flocculation basin, there are compartments with
decreasing speeds of mixing as the water advances
through the basin. This is essential in ensuring that the
increasingly large flocs form without being broken
apart by the mixing blades.
 This process is enhanced by chemicals called
flocculants and among these are the organic polymers
called polyelectrolytes.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 16
COAGULATION-FLOCCULATION
PROCESS

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 17
4.SEDIMENTATION
 After the larger flocs are formed, they are
settled out from the water by a process
known as sedimentation whereby the large
particles settle at the floor of a settling tank.
This process takes several hours and the
material that settles at the bottom of the
settling tank is called sludge and it is
removed for disposal.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 18
FLOCCULATION CHAMBERS AND
SEDIMENTATION TANK

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 19
5. FILTRATION
 This refers to a process of solid separation
from liquid. This continues after
sedimentation, for solids that are not
separated out in the sedimentation tank
which are removed by passing water through
the sand and gravel beds. In these beds,
there is use of rapid gravity filters with a flow
rate of 4-8 cubic meters per square meter of
filter surface per hour.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 20
FILTRATION CONTINUED…
 When the filters become full of trapped solids,
they are subjected to back-washing whereby
there is backward pumping of clean water and
air up the filter to facilitate the dislodging of
the trapped impurities. The backwash i.e. the
water carrying the impurities is pumped into
the sewerage system if it’s available. An
alternative to this may be returning the
backwash into the sedimentation tank for a
settlement stage to remove the solids and then
the water discharged into the source of river.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 21
CROSS-SECTIONAL DIAGRAM OF A
RAPID GRAVITY SAND FILTER

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 22
6. CHLORINATION
 Here, disinfection of water to remove any
remaining pathogenic micro-organisms takes
place.
 Sodium hypochlorite in liquid or gaseous state
is the most commonly used disinfectant
because it is simple to use and relatively cheap.
 The addition of chlorine to water ensures that
chlorine reacts with any pollutants, micro-
organisms present over a given period of time
referred to as the contact time.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 23
CHLORINATION CONTINUED…
 After the contact time, the amount of chlorine
left is termed as residual chlorine. All the way
through the distribution system, the residual
chlorine stays in water ensuring that the water
pathogen-free.
 NOTE: A maximum residual chlorine level of 5

milligrams per liter of water and a minimum

residual chlorine level of 0.5 milligrams per liter
of water after 30 minutes of contact time is
suggested by World Health Organization
Guidelines (WHO, 2003)

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 24
7. SUPPLEMENTARY TREATMENT
 This is beneficial especially for the
population.
 It involves fluoridation of water whereby

fluoride is added to water with an optimum

level of 1 milligram per liter of water.
 This is recommended by the World Health

Organization in prevention of tooth decay.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 25
REFERENCES
 https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/mod
/oucontent/view.php?id=80015&printable=1
 Step to Conventional Water Treatment by Dr.
SK Weragoda, Plant Engineer, Kandy South
Water Treatment Plant, National Water Supply
and Drainage Board.

GROUP 3 PRESENTATION 26