CENTRE FOR LANGUAGE STUDIES

PBI 1032: ACADEMIC READING AND WRITING

SEMESTER 2 2013-2014
ASSIGNMENT 2
EXPLANATION REPORT (25%)

TITLE OF ESSAY

Major Political Ideologies

ARW Group No

Group 9

No

Name of Student

Matric
Number

Emir Farhan Fadzli Bin Mohamad Nasir

35960

Assignment deadline

15 MAY 2014

Assignment submitted on

15 MAY 2014

Signature

Water Treatment Process

At any cost, all of water supplied for public consumption must be free from dangerous
organism. This cant be achieved without applying a proper and right water treatment.
Where treatment is required, the first short-term aims are normally basic treatment to
provide an aesthetically acceptable water and effective disinfection (Binnie & Kimber,
2009, p.43). Generally, there are six major processes in treating water (Refer to Figure 1 in
Appendix).
Prior to the water passing to the main treatment processes, the water must first
undergo an important preliminary process which is screening. At this stage, coarse screens
are provided at river intakes to prevent floating material of fairly large size such as woods
and aquatic plants from entering the works. The screens are formed by steel bars which are
normally quite substantial which is typically about twenty five millimeter in diameter and are
spaced about one hundred millimeter apart (Binnie & Kimber, 2009) . These bars are
normally slightly angled from the vertical to facilitate reaping. After the water passed the
coarse screening, it then go into fine screening. Floating debris such as leaves, waterweed and
other small debris are removed at the intake. After screening, by allowing water to pass
through chamber, the denser suspended matters are then removed and settled down to the
bottom.
Next, the water get into a process called aeration. Aeration is a term used in the
environmental field to generally refer to the process of bringing air bubbles in contact with a
volume of water (Pontius, 1990). Aeration is a process to treat high levels of iron and
manganese and to release carbon dioxide gas, CO2 and hydrogen sulphide from the water and
also a process of oxygenating the raw water At this stage, when the water is linked with the
atmosphere, the gas is absorbed or released in which the partial pressure of the gas in the
water is moving towards the partial pressure of the gases in the atmosphere. When the partial
pressure of a gas in the atmosphere is lower than the partial pressure in the water, the gas are
released from the water, conversely if it is higher, the water absorb gas. Thus, water with a
low dissolved oxygen concentration absorbs oxygen from the air, improving its taste at which
water containing CO2 or hydrogen sulphide tend to lose them, with benefits to the taste and
corrosiveness of water. Aeration is an inexpensive and precious means of regulating tastes
and scents due to hydrogen sulphide, of raising the concentration of oxygen in water, and of
minimizing the corrosiveness of water (Binnie & Kimber, 2009).

Next, coagulation and flocculation process takes place. Earliest water treatments were
forced by visible cloudiness of water due to various sources of waters having particles that
had an objectionable taste and appearance. Coagulation is the process of clarifying water by
making the suspended particles to settle out of water by using chemical alum (Parsons &
Jefferson, 2006). In most water treatment works, this process is the important process which
aimed for clarifying the water, removing natural organic matter and other soluble organic and
inorganic pollutants by the process of grouping of fine particles and colloids into larger
particles. It is the process of rapid formation of small agglomerates and destabilizing particles
in water by dosing certain chemical additives known as coagulants. Flocculation is then the
process of forming agglomerates known as flocs by encouraging destabilized particles and
small agglomerates to collide with each other in a stirred or flow-through reactor.
Further process in water treatment is called sedimentation and flotation. At this
sedimentation stage, the flocs obtained from flocculation and coagulation process before are
then allowed to flow through a sedimentation tank as uniform as possible for long enough
period for them to settle. The clarified water will be collected from the top. If the flocs are
light, another process will apply. In this process minute air bubbles are introduced. The flocs
will stick to the air bubbles and float to the top. The clarified water will be collected from the
bottom. This process is called Dissolve Air Flotation which is a process of making the solid
particles float rather than sink to remove particles or flocs (Parsons & Jefferson, 2006).
Next, the filtration process takes place in the water treatment process. Filtration
process has to do with the removal mechanisms of particulates being transported to the
granular media comprising the filter bed and attaching to its surface, thereby being removed
from the fluid flow (Hendricks, 2006). Generally, filtration is the process of passing water
through a granular bed, of sand or other suitable medium, at low speed. While permitting the
water to pass, the media retains most solid matter, and the filtrate from a functioning filter is
crystal clear. Filtration consists of two process which is the straining and depth filtration
process (Hendricks, 2006). The retention of particles that are too large to pass through the
pores of the media is called straining process while the retention of floc particles that attach
to the media grains or to floc that has previously attached to the media grains is called depth
filtration process. Straining causes an exponential head-loss increase with time, which is not
desired. With depth filtration, however, the time rate of head-loss increase is linear, which is
desired. As a filter run progresses, the media stores floc that has been removed as solid
deposits, which are attached to the media grains, which are adsorbed in the sense that surface

bonding occurs. This storage of floc within the media is termed clogging. A goal of filter
design is for the clogging to occur throughout the bed depth, at which the clogging should not
be occurring just within the top layer of media. Basically, the filtration is the process where
the water processed by sedimentation process passing through filters. Filters are the place
where the fine particles and bacteria are trapped. After that the processed clean water then
goes to the clear water tank. To ensure efficient operations, the filters are backwashed
regularly with a combination of agitation by air and water.
The last process in water treatment before the water can be distributed to household is
disinfection. Killing microbial pathogens to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases is the
main purpose of disinfecting water supplies (Parsons & Jefferson, 2006). This process is
usually carried out by chlorination, with more than 25000 litres per hour chlorine gas in some
large supplies (Mann & Williamson, 1982). The advantage of chlorine disinfectants is that
they protects water against bacterial contamination and form a residual remains in the water
for a long periods in the distribution system. Water source, the organism and the required kill
rate affect the dosage of chlorine required for disinfection purposes. The chlorine residual and
contact times vary depending on the species of amoebic cysts, viruses and vegetative bacteria
present, and generally for more resistant species a safety factor is applied (Parsons &
Jeffersons, 2006). It is more convenient to use solutions of chemicals containing free chlorine
such as chlorinated lime, bleaching powder, sodium hypochlorite or HTH for small supplies
of water (Mann & Williamson, 1982). In general, disinfection process is the process of
disinfection of water to destroy microorganism remained in water after filtration. After the
water has passed this disinfection process, the water is now ready to be distributed for public
use.

References
Binnie, C., & Kimber, M. (2009). Basic water treatment. London: Thomas Telford.
Hendricks, D. (2006). Water treatment unit processes. New York: Taylor & Francis Group.
Mann, T. H., & Williamson, D. (1982). Water treatment and sanitation. London:
Intermediate Technology Publications.
Parsons, A. S., & Jefferson, B. (2006). Introduction to potable water treatment processes.
Iowa: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Pontius, W. F. (1990). Water quality and treatment: A handbook of community water
supplies. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Appendix

Screening

Aeration

Coagualation
and flocculation

Sedimentation
and flotation

Filtration

Disinfection

Figure 1. Water Treatment Process