ISLAMABAD, Sep 22 (APP):Activated carbon can help remove unpleasant smell, taste, colour, chlorine and certain organic contaminants from water, but it could not be used alone as a complete water treatment system, an expert from the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) said. Talking to APP, Director, National Water Quality Laboratory, PCRWR, Saiqa Imran, said activated carbon was normally incorporated as one of several stages in a water …
Activated carbon useful for water treatment, not as standalone system: PCRWR expert
ISLAMABAD, Sep 22 (APP):Activated carbon can help remove unpleasant smell, taste, colour, chlorine and certain organic contaminants from water, but it could not be used alone as a complete water treatment system, an expert from the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) said.
Talking to APP, Director, National Water Quality Laboratory, PCRWR, Saiqa Imran, said activated carbon was normally incorporated as one of several stages in a water treatment system, with each stage designed to address specific impurities.
She explained that cartridge filters were generally used to remove turbidity, while activated carbon filters served a different purpose by trapping certain substances responsible for undesirable taste, odour and colour in water.
The expert said coal-based activated carbon was commonly used in filtration systems to reduce smell, colour and taste-related impurities and could make water clearer to some extent.
However, she cautioned against considering activated carbon a complete solution for all water-quality problems.
“Water can contain different types of contaminants requiring different treatment processes,” she said.
She said the treatment process should therefore comprise multiple stages according to the quality of the water and the nature of the contaminants present.
“Carbon filtration is one stage of the treatment process. Other stages are also required to address other water-quality issues,” she added.
The PCRWR official stressed that the selection of an appropriate treatment system should be based on the actual quality of the water rather than relying on a single filtration technology.
She said activated carbon could be an effective component of a properly designed treatment system, but its effectiveness depended on the specific contaminants present and the treatment conditions.
