Water Introduction Water free essay sample

Introduction Water is an essential component of life and w/o it life is impossible. It covers about 71. 4% of the Earth. Pure water has no smell, taste, or colour. Water can be found in solid, liquid or gaseous form. Water is regarded as a universal solvent. It is the only one whose solid form (ice) is lighter than its liquid form as it expands by 8% while freezing. Hard water Hard water is water that has high mineral content (in contrast with soft water). Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of calcium and magnesium-containing minerals such as limestone, chalk and dolomite. Soft Water The water that lathers with soap easily is called soft water. It describes type of water that contain few or no minerals like calcium(Ca) or magnesium(Mg) ions. Water softening techniques Calgon process In this process, calcium and magnesium ions which are responsible for the hardness of water are made ineffective by treatment with sodium metaphosphate which is also known as calgon. We will write a custom essay sample on Water Introduction Water or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The calgon forms a soluble complex with the ions. The water softened by this method is not fit for drinking but can be used for other purposes. Permutit process It is a process where hard water containing ions such as Ca2+ is filtered through either a natural sand called Zeolite or manmade beads. In either case the Ca2+ ions and other hard water metallic ions are caught as they bond to the zeolite or beads. As this happens, Na+ ions are released from the zeolite and flush on into the water supply. Then after the zeolite becomes saturated with hard water ions, it is renewed by flushing it with a rich solution of NaCl where the excess Na+ ions go in and replace the hard water ions, flush them down the drain during the recharging cycles when the water softener is disconnected from the regular water supply. Ion exchange process In this process both cationic and anionic impurities in water are removed. The procedure involves passing the hard water first through the cation exchanger, which is a resin containing ionic sulphonic acid group. The cations such as M+ present in hard water are exchanged with hydrogen ions of the resin. Subsequently the water is passed through a column containing an anion-exchanging resin. This water is not suitable for drinking purposes. (Methods of making non portable water portable. Desalination-one of the ways is reverse osmosis. Electrodialysis) Water Purification techniques Reverse Osmosis-in this process water is passed through a semi permeable membrane using applied pressure in excess of the osmotic pressure. the purified water is also radiated using UV light which kills bacteria and other organisms present in the water. filtration- in this process water is passed through columns of sand and gravel and then purified with reverse osmosis. distilation- in this pocess water is heated in a flask. the steam generated is passed through a water-cooled condenser. heating- boil the water for 20-25 minutes which coagulates the suspended matter and kills bacteria and other organisms. Purification of sewage water is done in three stages Primary treatment consists of temporarily holding the sewage in a quiescent basin where heavy solids can settle to the bottom while oil, grease and lighter solids float to the surface. The settled and floating materials are removed and the remaining liquid may be discharged or subjected to secondary treatment. Secondary treatment removes dissolved and suspended biological matter. Secondary treatment is typically performed by indigenous, water-borne micro-organisms in a managed habitat. Secondary treatment may require a separation process to remove the micro-organisms from the treated water prior to discharge or tertiary treatment. Tertiary treatment is sometimes defined as anything more than primary and secondary treatment in order to allow rejection into a highly sensitive or fragile ecosystem. Treated water is sometimes disinfected chemically or physically prior to discharge into a stream, river, bay, lagoon or wetland, or it can be used for the irrigation of a golf course, green way or park. Water Conservation Water conservation simply refers to reducing the usage of water and recycling waste water for different purposes, such as cleaning, manufacturing and agricultural irrigation. This method definitely accounts as the most efficient and cost effective way to control the use of water Ways to conserve At Home shorten your shower by a minute or two and youll save up to 150 gallons per month. Monitor your water bill for unusually high use. Grab a wrench and fix that leaky faucet. Teach children to turn off faucets tightly after each use. Turn off the water while brushing your teeth! This will, on the average, save 3 gallons of water for each time you brush. Use a bucket of water to clean your car instead of a hose. Sweep sidewalks, driveways and patios instead of hosing. Clean gutters and downspouts manually. Cultivate the soil regularly so water can penetrate and develop a good root system. In Industries food processing companies use water for washing and sanitation, cooling and heating, processing food products and other functions. the opportunities for water conservation include:— Reusing water in another Processes (using rinse water in cooling towers)— Modifying processes to consume less water— Recycling water within a specific process (where health regulations allow)— Modifying cooling towers to recycle water. Hospitality industry businesses use water for a variety of functions including laundry, preparation of food, cooling and heating, and landscaping. Typically the largest of water use occurs in guest rooms . Therefore , many of the water conservation approaches that have been successfully used to reduce water among residential customers (such as installation of ultra-low-flush toilets, low-flow shower heads, and faucet aerators)are recommended for hotels and motels. In Agricultural practices An evaporation plan in combination with specific crop correction factors can be used to determine how much water is needed to satisfy plant requirements. Flood irrigatio n , drip irrigation and sprinklers are useful methods. Rainwater harvesting Rainwater harvesting is the accumulation and deposition of rainwater for reuse before it reaches the aquifer. Uses include water for garden, water for livestock, water for irrigation, and indoor heating for houses etc.. In many places the water collected is just redirected to a deep pit with percolation. The harvested water can be used as drinking water as well as for storage and other purpose like irrigation. Rooftop Rain Water Harvesting is the technique through which rain water is captured from the roof catchments and stored in reservoirs. Harvested rain water can be stored in sub-surface ground water reservoir by adopting artificial recharge techniques to meet the household needs through storage in tanks Some of the ancient techniques are johads kunds bamboo drip irrigation etc.