Water & the Environment

Aeration

Suspended and dissolved impurities present in naturally occurring water make it unsuitable for many purposes. Objectionable organic and inorganic materials are removed by such methods as screening and sedimentation to eliminate suspended materials; treatment with such compounds as activated carbon to remove tastes and odors; filtration; and chlorination or irradiation to kill infective microorganisms.

In aeration, or the saturation of water with air, water is brought into contact with air in such a manner as to produce maximum diffusion, usually by spraying water into the air in fountains. Aeration removes odors and taste caused by decomposing organic matter, and also industrial wastes such as phenols and volatile gases such as chlorine. It also converts dissolved iron and manganese compounds into insoluble hydrated oxides of the metals which may then be readily settled out.

Hardness of natural waters is caused largely by calcium and magnesium salts and to a small extent by iron, aluminum, and other metals. Hardness resulting from the bicarbonates and carbonates of calcium and magnesium is called temporary hardness and can be removed by boiling, which also sterilizes the water. The residual hardness is known as noncarbonate, or permanent, hardness. The methods of softening noncarbonate hardness include the addition of sodium carbonate and lime and filtration through natural or artificial zeolites which absorb the hardness-producing metallic ions and release sodium ions to the water. Sequestering agents in detergents serve to inactivate the substances that make water hard.

Iron, which causes an unpleasant taste in drinking water, may be removed by aeration and sedimentation or by passing the water through iron-removing zeolite filters, or the iron may be stabilized by addition of such salts as polyphosphates. For use in laboratory applications, water is either distilled or demineralized by passing it through ion-absorbing compounds. Source: "Water," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2005 http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Desalination

To meet the ever-increasing demands for fresh water, especially in arid and semiarid areas, much research has gone into finding efficient methods of removing salt from seawater and brackish waters. In the U.S., desalinization research is directed by the Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior. Several processes are being developed to produce fresh water cheaply.

Three of the processes involve evaporation followed by condensation of the resultant steam and are known as multiple-effect evaporation, vapor-compression distillation, and flash evaporation. The last-named method, the most widely used, involves heating seawater and pumping it into lower-pressure tanks, where the water abruptly vaporizes (flashes) into steam. The steam then condenses and is drawn off as pure water. In 1967, Key West, Florida, opened a flash-evaporation plant and thus became the first city in the U.S. to draw its fresh water from the sea.

Freezing is an alternate method, based on the different freezing points of fresh and salt water. The ice crystals are separated from the brine, washed free of salt, and melted into fresh water. In another process, called reverse osmosis, pressure is used to force fresh water through a thin membrane that does not allow the minerals to pass. Reverse osmosis is still undergoing intensive development. Electrodialysis is being used to desalt brackish waters. When salt dissolves in water, it splits into positive and negative ions, which are then removed by electric current through anion and cation membranes, thus depleting the salt in the product water. Although developmental work on electrodialysis is continuing, a number of commercial plants are in operation. In 1962 Buckeye, Arizona, became the first town to have all its water supplied by its own electrodialysis-desalting plant, which provides about 2,460,000 liters (about 650,000 gallons) of water daily at a cost of about $1 per 6300 liters (1670 gallons).

One major problem in desalinization projects is the cost of producing fresh water. Using conventional fuels, plants with a capacity of 3.8 million liters (1 million gallons) per day or less produce water at a cost of $1 or more per 3800 liters (1000 gallons). More than 500 such plants are in operation, with a total capacity of nearly 473 million liters (nearly 125 million gallons) a day; however, their high costs limit their use to areas of great water scarcity. Water from conventional sources, such as wells and reservoirs, is sold for less than 30 cents per 3800 liters delivered to the home, and water for irrigation is usually priced at less than 5 cents per 3800 liters. The dual-purpose atomic power and water-desalting plants now being planned are designed to produce fresh water for between 20 and 30 cents per 3800 liters.

Most experts expect more immediate results from efforts to purify mildly brackish water that contains between 1000 and 4500 parts per million of minerals, compared to 35,000 parts per million for ocean water. Because water is potable if it contains fewer than 500 parts per million of salt, the cost of desalting brackish water is correspondingly less than it is for desalting seawater. Source: "Water," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2005 http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Hydrogeology

Hydrology is the science concerned with the distribution of water on the earth, its physical and chemical reactions with other naturally occurring substances, and its relation to life on earth; the continuous movement of water between the earth and the atmosphere is known as the hydrological cycle. Under several influences, of which heat is predominant, water is evaporated from both water and land surfaces and is transpired from living cells. This vapor circulates through the atmosphere and is precipitated in the form of rain or snow.

On striking the surface of the earth, the water follows two paths. In amounts determined by the intensity of the rain and the porosity, permeability, thickness, and previous moisture content of the soil, one part of the water, termed surface runoff, flows directly into rills and streams and thence into oceans or landlocked bodies of water; the remainder infiltrates into the soil. A part of the infiltrated water becomes soil moisture, which may be evaporated directly or may move upward through the roots of vegetation to be transpired from leaves. The portion of the water that overcomes the forces of cohesion and adhesion in the soil profile percolates downward, accumulating in the so-called zone of saturation to form the groundwater reservoir, the surface of which is known as the water table. Under natural conditions, the water table rises intermittently in response to replenishment, or recharge, and then declines as a result of continuous drainage into natural outlets such as springs. Source: "Water," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2005 http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Seawater

Seawater contains, in addition to concentrated amounts of sodium chloride, or salt, many other soluble compounds, as the impure waters of rivers and streams are constantly feeding the oceans. At the same time, pure water is continually lost by the process of evaporation, and as a result the proportion of the impurities that give the oceans their saline character is increased. Source: "Water," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2005 http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.