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The mission of every water treatment professional is to
provide a continuous supply of drinking water that is free of contaminants that can cause
disease or be toxic to the consumer. The water must also be palatable -- that is, free of
unpleasant characteristics such as color, turbidity, taste and odor. Water treatment professionals in the United States do an excellent job of producing water that is safe and palatable. You can go virtually anywhere in the United States and confidently drink water from the tap. That's because every municipal and private water treatment facility must meet the stringent federal guidelines set forth in the Safe Drinking Water Act and enforced by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The methods used to treat water depend on the characteristics of the raw water. Surface water sources (rivers, lakes, and reservoirs) generally require more extensive treatment than ground-water sources (well water) because of greater exposure to contamination. Most water treatment processes include a multi-step approach to ensure that finished water meets established standards. |
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Check out our Water Treatment poster to learn more! |
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Learn more about water
treatment by clicking on links in the poster. |
Water treatment is a complicated job. It gets more complicated every year, because pollution is increasing in many places. That makes the job of producing clean, safe, good-tasting water even more important. Find out more about how most water is treated in the United States by exploring the links on our poster (or in the list that follows). You'll read about the importance of preliminary treatment, coagulation, flocculation and clarification, softening and stabilization, filtration, the chemical treatment steps of fluoridation and disinfection, and the role of holding tanks. Outside the United States, water treatment is usually very similar to our poster. Water treatment plants around the world (and some in the USA, too) may use different methods for disinfection, such as ultraviolet radiation, sodium hypochlorite (bleach), or ozone instead of chlorine gas. How could you find out what method your local water plant uses?
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This page was last updated 04/20/07 |
