Water Treatment - One World Essay

Done by: Avnish Gupta

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Overview
70% of Earths surface is covered by water, because of which it is also known as Blue
Planet. Despite having 70% water, Earth is facing huge issues regarding scarcity of clean
drinking water. Statistics in figure 1 shows comparison between availability of water. There
are several reasons for water shortage:

Water Wastage
Biggest reason for water shortage is Wastage of water.
Nowadays, volume of water wasted is greater than volume of
water used. Water is wasted in activities like showers, baths,
toilet flushes, cleaning, laundry, in kitchen, and significantly
in running taps. Only most important use of water is drinking
which uses only 4% of total water (used in homes), according
to figure 2. Other 96% of water (used in homes) are used for
other purposes (which are not significant for living).

Figure 1 - Worlds Water

Content (unwater.org)

Figure 2 - Water wastage in the home (Waterwise.org.uk)

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Overpopulation
Overpopulation is another reason for water shortage. Figure 3 shows graph of worlds
population, with data from US Census Bureau and UN population estimates. As can be seen
from graph, worlds population was levelled until 1800 due to widespread diseases causing
deaths (and low Life expectancy rates). But due to advancements in modern technology and
science, cures (for almost all diseases) have been created causing rapid rise in total
population, slowly rising from 1800 to 1950, and then rapidly rising ever since 1950, and is
projected to rise rapidly until 2050. Due to overpopulation, there is more water needed for
usage by more people (also resulting in more wastage of water). As shown in figure 1, 70% of
clean water available is used for irrigation (in order to grow enough food for overpopulation
on Earth). Globally, more than 1.2 billion people lack access to safe drinking water and in
future it may double (or even triple) (Fitzsimmons, Water Pollution and Health).

Figure 3 - World Population and Growth Rate (DSS Research)

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Water Pollution
Most water available is polluted (making it unsuitable for
usage). Water becomes polluted from toxic substances
dumped (or washed) into seas and discharge of sewage,
industrial waste. Polluting water reduces biodiversity and
makes it toxic (and harmful). Figure 4 shows example of
water pollution decreasing picturesqueness of a river.
Figure 4 - A littered coastline in the
Philippines (WWF)

Water Purification
Knowing that 97% of Earths surface is water, from which 94% is seawater, this seawater can
be purified (into clean drinking water). Reverse Osmosis (RO), most advanced, economical
and effective desalination technique, is widely used to purify impure water (including
seawater and brackish water) into clean drinking water. It removes 90-99% of all
contaminants from impure water making it suitable for drinking (and other purposes). RO is
used in Argentina and Northeast region of Brazil (to desalinate groundwater).

The process
RO is natural process that occurs when solution is forced from region of high solute
concentration, through semipermeable membrane, to region of low solute concentration by
applying high osmotic pressure. Most significant implementation of RO is separation of pure
water from seawater. In this process, seawater is pressurised against one side of membrane,
causing transport of salt-depleted water across membrane leaving with impurities and salt
behind, and potable drinking water on other side (of low-pressure) (Water Purification
Technologies - Reverse Osmosis). Figure 5 is flowchart that outlines different stages in RO.

Figure 5 - An outline of the different stages in Reverse Osmosis.

(www.oas.org)

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Pre-treatment
Incoming feed water is first pretreated (in order to make it compatible with membranes).
Pretreatment process involves four major stages: Screening of solids, Dosing, pH adjustment,
and Pre-filtration antiscalants (Desalination by reverse osmosis). Firstly, solids within
feedwater are removed, water is treated to prevent fouling of membranes (by fine particle),
and reduce risk of damage (to high-pressure pump components). For this process, String-

wound polypropylene filters are used to separate contaminants (within 15 m in diameter)

(Desalination by reverse osmosis). Secondly, dosing takes place. In this process, Oxidising
biocides (like chlorine) are added to kill bacteria, followed by bisulphate dosing (to deactivate
chlorine which can destroy membrane) (Desalination by reverse osmosis). Thirdly, Prefiltration pH adjustment takes place, where feedwaters pH level is adjusted (so that it is not
significantly acidic or alkalic). Lastly, Pre-filtration antiscalants are used to control scaling
(caused by constituents such as calcium sulphate) (Desalination by reverse osmosis).

Pressurisation
High pressure pump supplies pressure (needed to push water through membrane), by
operating pressure appropriate for membrane and salinity (of feedwater) (Desalination by
reverse osmosis). Typical pressures for seawater ranges from 800-1,180 psi (Uri Lachish,
Optimizing the Efficiency of Reverse Osmosis Seawater Desalination).

Separation
Permeable membranes restrain passage of dissolved salts while permitting product water to
pass through. Applying feedwater to membrane assembly results in freshwater product stream
and concentrated brine reject stream (Desalination by reverse osmosis). However, small
percentage of salt passes through membrane (and remains in product water). Figure 6 outlines
process of RO when water enters membrane modules.

Figure 6 - An outline of the process showing how the water is separated in

the membrane modules. (www.puretecwater.com)

Stabilisation
Water from membrane modules usually requires pH adjustment and Degasification (before
being transferred to distribution system) (Uri Lachish, Optimizing the Efficiency of Reverse
Osmosis Seawater Desalination). Water passes through aeration column in which pH is
elevated from 5-7 ( Uri Lachish, Optimizing the Efficiency of Reverse Osmosis Seawater
Desalination).

Post-treatment
Post-treatment consists of preparing water for distribution (after filtration) (How Does a
Reverse Osmosis Water Filter Work?). Post-treatment involves Disinfection by means of UV
lamp (also known as germicidal or bactericidal) used to sterilise pathogens (which bypassed
RO process). Chlorination protects water against pathogens which may have lodged in
distribution system downstream (such as from new construction, compromised pipes).

Effectiveness of Reverse Osmosis

RO removes up to 98% of all contaminants from water. However, purification limitations of
water also depends on type of membrane used. There are variety of membranes used today,
figure 7 shows some of them with their limitations.

Figure 7 - The different types of membranes commonly used with their limitations
(www1.agric.gov.ab.ca)

Advantages
RO is cheap process of desalination (in terms of costs). RO plants are very effective (having
production capacity ranging from 25,000 to 60,000 L/day/m2) (Desalination by reverse
osmosis). Most of all, RO can be used to remove (organic and inorganic) contaminants (from
any water source).

Disadvantages
However, there are some disadvantages of RO. Firstly, membranes used are very sensitive
(and any large solids that are present in feedwater may result in destruction of membrane). In
order to prolong membrane, water has to be pretreated, which increases process duration. RO
plants also need high quality materials and equipments. Waste product of RO, Brine, has to be
disposed off with a lot of carefulness as it can be detrimental to environment. Due to disposal
of Brine, there may be bacterial development on membrane which can make water
detrimental for usage. At the same time, RO plants require reliable source of energy
(Desalination by reverse osmosis). Desalinated water consumption may also have long-term
effects on health (as good minerals may also be extracted from water during RO). A number
of peer-reviewed studies have proved that drinking demineralised water, can have major
effects on human health (Desalination by reverse osmosis). To summarise, RO has
disadvantages also which show that RO can be harmful to human health and environment.

Comparison
To balance all advantages and disadvantages, advantages balance out disadvantages. Despite
having environmental effects due to brine disposal, sensitive membranes, and chances of
bacterial development on membrane, these can be prevented if extra care is taken. If disposal
of brine is conducted sensibly, there are very less chances that it will effect environment. In
addition, if membranes are taken care of, and the feedwater is first pretreated, membrane
damage can be easily prevented. Moreover, if cleaning of membrane is done more often,
bacterial development on it can be prevented with ease. Similarly, demineralised water which
is bad for the health can be remineralised in order to prevent this limitation as well (which is
already being done globally nowadays). To conclude, most of limitations (and disadvantages
of RO) can be prevented by taking precautionary actions. Conversely, RO can be successful
solution in conserving water by using brackish (or saline water), or even water that is waste,
to desalinate it and make it suitable for usage again (making a water recycling cycle). It can
help remove all sorts of contaminants from water (in order to make it suitable for usage), thus
helping environment by saving most precious resource on Earth, which is Water.

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Environmental Effects
RO, being a very efficient desalination technique, removes up to 99% of all contaminants
(from the feedwater) making it pure. However, RO also has a negative effect on the
environment. Despite purifying feedwater (into fresh water), there is also a by-product of this
process which is brine. Brine is a solution of water that is strongly impregnated with salt. It is
estimated that for every 1 m of desalinated water, 2 m is rejected (as brine). Thus, there will
be a lot of brine collected when purifying large quantities (of seawater). Brine disposal is
therefore an environmental issue because the brine is usually disposed off into the oceans
(which pollutes the water).

Social Effects
RO is very cost efficient. As mentioned in an online Science encyclopaedia in the website
Library Index, Researchers suggested that while the desalination cost of $3 per thousand
gallons of water might appear to be expensive, consumers have shown a willingness to pay
the equivalent of $7,945 per thousand gallons for bottled water (based on a shelf price of $.99
per half-liter bottle). Despite being very low in cost, RO water can be harmful to aquatic life,
causing loss in biodiversity. Freshwater fishes survive in freshwater with help of minerals
(present in it). However, desalinated water often removes beneficial minerals as well (from
the product water). If freshwater fishes are placed in RO water, they will die because the
water is lacking in minerals (that they ingest). Thus, RO water can result in loss of
biodiversity (and deaths of freshwater fishes) if it is used in freshwater tanks with fishes.

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Word Count - 1198

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