By Hina Durrani ISLAMABAD, Sep 25 (APP):Effective water treatment requires a combination of filtration and treatment processes tailored to the type of contaminants present, as no single technology can address all water-quality problems, a Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) expert said here Friday. Talking to APP, Director, National Water Quality Laboratory, PCRWR, Saiqa Imran said that activated carbon was an important component of water filtration systems but …
Water treatment requires multi-stage approach; says PCRWR expert
By Hina Durrani
ISLAMABAD, Sep 25 (APP):Effective water treatment requires a combination of filtration and treatment processes tailored to the type of contaminants present, as no single technology can address all water-quality problems, a Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) expert said here Friday.
Talking to APP, Director, National Water Quality Laboratory, PCRWR, Saiqa Imran said that activated carbon was an important component of water filtration systems but could not function as a standalone treatment solution.
She said that different treatment stages performed different functions, with cartridge filters generally helping reduce turbidity, while activated carbon filters were used to remove or reduce substances associated with undesirable taste, odour and colour.
According to the expert, coal-based activated carbon was commonly incorporated into filtration systems because of its ability to trap certain substances, including some organic contaminants and chlorine.
“Water can contain different types of contaminants requiring different treatment processes,” she said.
She explained that the effectiveness of a treatment system depended on the quality of the source water, the contaminants present and the treatment conditions.
The PCRWR official said carbon filtration should therefore be viewed as one stage within a properly designed treatment system rather than a universal solution for water purification.
She stressed that the selection and design of a treatment system should follow an assessment of actual water quality so that appropriate technologies could be combined to address the specific contaminants.
