As the availability of clean and safe water for consumption is today considered a fundamental human right, MWTFs are a critical link that guarantees the customers receive safe and clean water suitable for consumption after it has been passed through the various processes in a water treatment plant.
These municipalities and/or treatment systems are fully responsible for obtaining, treating, and delivering to the public water that is safe to drink and contains no contaminants. Having known some of the processes that are undertaken when forming this water, it is apparent that water treatment by municipalities does improve the health of the people and the surrounding environment.
Municipal Water Treatment Sourcing Water Responsibly
Water supplies of the municipalities are normally obtained from nearby river sources, Lakes, reservoirs, or from groundwater. These sources however come with many murmurs of interferences from both natural origin and man such as bacteria, viruses, clay particles, iron, copper, zinc, salt, drugs, insecticides, and other chemicals. It then dried up and left, people would be drinking polluted water if they got it at all, and if it were, it would not be safe to drink.
One of the areas where poor sourcing was seen to have a devastating effect is the city of Flint, Michigan. Flint City decided to change its source of drinking water from Detroit’s water service to the Flint River in 2014, this was due to some financial issues.
This decision left tens of thousands of residents breathing potentially lethal quantities of lead and provoked a Legionnaire’s disease outbreak that, at a minimum, killed at least a dozen citizens and reportedly made dozens more ill. Research revealed that the tainted water raised the level of lead in the bloodstream of children in the city undesirably causing serious adverse health effects in the long run.
The Municipal Drinking Water Treatment Process
After a viable source of water is obtained and confirmed as safe, it is treated using several methods and procedures and is then conveyed through a system of piping and fixtures to residences and commercial places.
Municipal water treatment systems may vary based on the characteristics of the source water, but they typically follow these key stages:
Coagulation: To make the water in the swimming pool positively charged, one adds chemicals like aluminum or iron into the water. These chemicals counteract with the charged ions in the water and neutralize the charge, hence allowing the positively charged particles to trap together and form bigger particles.
Flocculation: During the flocculation stage, the water is gently stirred, and more chemicals may be added to help the flocs develop larger and heavier masses flocs.
Sedimentation: The clear water is left to stand and the flocs sink to the bottom of the container taking the solid component of the water.
Filtration: The upper water layer is treated through mechanical and physical processes aimed at eliminating dissolved implications, microorganisms, chemicals, and odors. In this case, more complex filter technologies such as ultra-filtration or reverse osmoses may be used to filter out the particles.
Conclusion
Central water supply and purification systems are crucial in preventing vulnerable populations within societies from contracting diseases through poorly purified water supplies. The sources of water used in these systems are obtained appropriately, while the manner the water is treated and processed is also closely regulated for the sake of the health of the communities that the water is to serve as well as the environment. The mishap that happened in Flint, Michigan, clearly shows how important it is to have a rigid system of municipal water treatment and what are the possible outcomes if it does not work.
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