A guide to theory and practice of drinking water: PURE-H2O approaches

Abstract

The quality of drinking water that is essential for life is a powerful environmental determinant of health. Engineeringworks in all fields have been constructed to distribute water from places of abundance to places in need. All watersources contain suspended and particulate inorganic/organic substances that must be dispelled during watertreatment process to yield pure water that is fit for drinking and any other usage. Treatment procedures should bechosen in order to improve water stability. Many treatment processes (sometimes called unit processes and unitoperations) are linked together to form a treatment plant in order to produce water of the desired quality. Unitoperations, which are physical and chemical (aeration, adsorption, membrane processes, ion exchange, coagulationand flocculation, chemical oxidation and water softening) and mechanical (sedimentation and filtration) should betaken into consideration for producing clean drinking water. Choosing the suitable treatment process is a critical stepin the procurement of safe, reliable, high quality drinking water at a cost-effective price for green/sustainableengineering.As a main part of the EU Project titled as “Implementation of ECVET for Qualification Design in Drinking WaterTreatment Plants and Sanitation for Pure Drinkable Water-PUREH2O” that includes environmental planning, trainingin the field of drinking water, sustainable development, sound practices not only in the field of drinking water but alsoaffiliated treatment facilities, this study focuses on selection of the water source, unit operations for drinking waterand choosing water treatment processes.