DISINFECTION

The filtered water obtained from SSF or RSF may contain some
disease producing bacteria or pathogens which must be killed in order
to make water safe for drinking.
The chemicals used for killing these bacteria are known as
disinfectants, and the process is known as disinfection and
disinfectant may be able to give residual sterilising effect for a long
period, thus affording some protection against recontamination during
transport of water through distribution system
Minor Methods of Disinfection
(i)Boiling of Water. The bacteria present in water can be destroyed
by boiling it for a long time. It is an effective method of disinfection, but
it is not practically possible to boil huge amount of water .
(ii) Treatment with Excess Lime. Lime is generally used at a water
purification plant for softening in supplies. If excess lime is added to the
water, in addition, kill the bacteria.99% removal @pH 9.5
Treatment with Ozone. -OZONE is an excellent disinfectant 3O2
That breaks down into O2 & O ( nascent oxygen) . It’s a powerful oxidising
agent removes organic matter as well as bacteria from water.
O3 removes the colour, taste & odour from water, in addition to removing the
bacteria from it.
Being unstable nothing remains in water, by time it reaches distribution system.
Only 2-3 ppm of O3is generally consumed, to obtain a residual O3 of 0.10 ppm
after a contact period of about 10 min O3
The ozonised water becomes tasty and pleasant But It is very costly; much
costlier than chlorination as Ozone needs electricity for its manufacture,
iv) Treatment with I2 (Iodine )Br2( Bromine)
The addition of I2 & Br2 to water can kill pathogens,
Requirement of of I2 & Br2 is 8ppm & a contact period of 5 minutes
Now-a-days it is available in the form of pills and are thus very handy.
They are not used for treating any large scale public supplies
Used for treating small water supplies for army troops, private plants,
swimming pools, etc.
(v)Treatment with Ultra
- Violet Rays. -
UV rays are the invisible light rays having wave lengths of 1K to 4K nm.
Produced by passing electric current through Hg enclosed in quartz bulbs.
 theses bulbs can be used as a good source of such rays.
These rays are highly effective in killing all types of bacteria, thus yielding a
truly sterilised water
 Treatment with Ultra-Violet Rays Contd .
Water to be treated with this should be colourless and turbidity < 15 mg/l
water is passed several times around the quartz bulbs emitting such rays
 Water depth over the bulbs<10cm (for Light penetration entire water
depth)
(vi) Treatment with Potassium Permanganate (KMnO4)
KMnO4 is used to disinfect well water in villages which may have lesser
amounts of bacteria.
Besides killing bacteria, it also helps in oxidising the taste producing organic
matter.
It is, therefore, sometimes added in small doses (such as 0.05 to 0.10 mg/I)
even to filtered and chlorinated water. from water.
For treating well water supplies, KMnO4 is dissolved in a bucket of water
and is mixed with the well water, thoroughly.
KMnO4 is added to water, produces pink colour.
If organic matter present in water Pink colour disappears,
Add more KMnO4 until the pink colour stands. The well should not be used
for at least 48 hours after the addition of KMnO4.
 Normal doses of this disinfectant varies between 1-2 mg/l with a contact
period of 4-6 hours.
Chlorination-Various forms of Cl2 used for disinfecting public water supplies.
It’s cheap, reliable, easy to handle, easily measurable, & capable of providing
residual disinfecting effects for long periods, thus affording complete protection
against future recontamination of water in the distribution system.
Only disadvantage is that when used in greater amounts, it imparts bitter and
bad taste to the water, which may not be liked by certain sensitive-tongued
consumers.
Disinfecting Action of Chlorine
When chlorine is added to water, it forms hypochlorous acid or hypochlorite ions,
which have an immediate and disastrous effect on most forms of microscopic
organisms. The reactions that take place as:
• It is reversible reaction and depend son pH .
• The dissociation HOCl and OCL ions are effective a in killing bacteria. At pH <
7.0, HOCl acid is the most destructive / effective about 80 times > OCl ions.
NH2Cl predominates ,@ pH > 7.5 ; Di-chloramine@ pH 5- 6.5
NCl3 @ pH below 4.4. In water treatment pH is kept < 7, NH2Cl
predominant. Chloramines so formed are stable and are found to possess
disinfecting properties & remove odour from water but only to a certain
extent. The combined chlorine with ammonia in the form of chloramines
is called combined chlorine, and is much less effective in causing
disinfection compared to the free chlorine,
Plain chlornation –
Cl2 treatment applied & no other treatment is given to the raw water.
Raw water is fed into D/S after giving Cl2 treatment only.
 Helps in removing bacteria, organic matter, and colour from the raw water.
This technique may be used for treating relatively clearer waters (turbidity
<20-30mg/L)) obtained from lakes, reservoirs, etc.
 used during emergencies, when full-fledged treatment cannot be given,
such as for supplying water to army troops during war times, flood cyclonee
Quantity of chlorine required for plain chlorination is about 0.5 mg/l or more.
(ii).Pre- chlorination is the process of applying chlorine to the water
before filtration rather before sedimentation & coagulation.
Helps in improving coagulation, and reduces the loads on the filters.
Also reduces the taste, odour, algae and other organisms.
Cl2 dose should be such that about 0.1 to 0.5 mg/l of residual chlorine comes
to the filter plant. The normal doses required are as high as 5 to 10 mg/l. Pre-
chlorination is, however.
Always followed by post chlorination, so as to ensure the final 'safety of water.
(iii)Post-chlorination. Or simply called chlorination
It is the normal standard process of applying chlorine in the end, when all other
treatments have been completed
 While treating normal public supplies, the post chlorination is adopted after
filtration and before the water enters the distribution system.
 The dosage of chlorine should be such as to leave a residual chlorine of about 0.1
to 0.2 mg/l, after a contact period of about 20 minutes.
 This residual will ensure the disinfection of water, if at all any future
recontamination occurs in the distribution system. (iv) Double chlorination.

(iii)Double chlorination
 Double chlorination is used to indicate that the water has been chlorinated
twice. The pre-chlorination and post chlorination are generally used in double
chlorination.
 Post chlorination, however, is generally always used, while the pre-chlorination
is also used when the waters are highly turbid and contaminated.
 Since the double chlorination uses pre-chlorination .prior to the normal post
chlorination, its advantages are the same as those of pre-chlorination. In
addition, second unit of chlorination plant required for per- chlorination may
served as a stand-by unit for emergencies.
Break point chlorination is a term which gives us an idea of the extent of
chlorine added to water. In fact, it represents, that much dose of
chlorination, 'beyond which any further addition of chlorine will appear as
free residual chlorine.
When chlorine is added to the water, it first of all, generally reacts with the
ammonia present in the water, so as to form chloramines., it will be found
that the residual will go on increasing with the addition of chlorine.
However, some chlorine is consumed for killing bacteria, and thus the
amount of residual chlorine shall be slightly less than that added, as shown
by the curve AB in Fig. 9.28.
If the addition of chlorine is continued beyond the point B, the organic
matter present in water gets oxidised, and, therefore, the residual chlorine
content suddenly falls down, as shown by the curve BC.
The point C is the point beyond which any further addition of chlorine will
appear equally as free chlorine, since nothing fit shall be utilised.
This point "c" is called the breakpoint, as any chlorine that is added to
water beyond this point, breaks through the water, and appears as residual
chlorine. The addition of chlorine beyond break point is called break point
chlorination.
(vii) Dechlorination. As indicated above, the dechlorination means removing chlorine
from water. This is generally required when super-chlorination has been practised. The
dechlorination process may either be carried out to such an extent that sufficient
residual chlorine (0.1 to 0.15 mg/l) do remains in water after dechlorination ; or
otherwise, if full chlorine has been removed, additional chlorine will generally be added
to maintain such residues. The dechlorination may be carried out be adding certain
chemicals to water or by simply aerating the water. These chemicals are
called dechlorinating agents.
The common dechlorinating agents are: Sulphur dioxide gas (S02), ; Activated carbon,
Sodium thiosulphate (Na2S2O3), Sodium metabisulphate (Na2S2O3S), Sodium sulphite
Sodium bisulphite, and Ammonia as NH4OH

Tests for residuals