Maintaining proper water resources is essential for a healthy civilization. Water is necessary for human consumption, agriculture, and industry. Society would struggle without a reliable supply to clean water.
Water treatment facilities improve the quality of water. Water is improved by removing or reducing the concentration of various contaminants. Water is improved for use in irrigation, recreation, industrial use, or for drinking. Attempts to treat water have been recorded as early as 4000 B.C. These attempts often were to improve the ascetics or smell of water. Treatment for drinking water involves purifying the water until the water is fit for human consumption. Drinking water must not negatively impact health in the short term or long term. For this reason, algae, bacteria, viruses, and several minerals must be removed from the water. Some processes used in the treatment process for drinking water include pre-chlorination, aeration, coagulation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection. Each of these processes serves to remove a certain set of contaminants from the water sample. Industrial water treatment is generally used for boiler water and cooling water. Water must be purified to prevent unintended reactions involving bacteria or minerals. Untreated water may also result in corrosion in pipes, caused by dissolved oxygen and acidity. In most cases, properly treated water may be reused. Water distribution networks are systems of engineered components that transport water. These networks generally are composed of water collection facilities, treatment plants, storage facilities, and pipes. Water collection facilities serve to import water into the distribution network. These facilities generally involve pumping water from a lake, river, or a groundwater source. This water is subsequently treated at a water treatment facility and stored in tanks. Pipes distribute potable water from the tanks to individual locations. When transporting a large value of water over a great distance, it is sometimes necessary to use an aqueduct. An aqueduct is an artificially constructed water course, and may be composed of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures. Aqueducts are often associated with bridges on the water course. |