Developing Drinking Water Treatment Technologies

The importance of good drinking water in maintaining human health was recognised early in history. However, it took centuries before people understood that their senses alone were not adequate judges of water quality. The earliest water treatments were based on filtering and driven by the desire to remove the taste and As a result, drinking water treatment systems were designed to reduce turbidity, thereby removing pathogens that were causing typhoid, dysentery and cholera. The aims of the treatment are to remove unwanted constituents in the water and to make it safe to drink or fit for a specific purpose in industry or medical applications. Widely varied techniques are available to remove contaminants like fine solids, micro-organisms and some dissolved inorganic and organic materials, or environmental persistent pharmaceutical pollutants.The processes and technologies used to remove contaminants from water and to improve and protect water quality are similar all around the world.