Drinking water treatment facilities can vary from basic, providing some degree of disinfection, to complex systems involving a number of treatment steps. The following general types exist:
Basic treatment can be done by the community using materials which are common in most communities, or which can be easily purchased (e.g. chlorine pills). Basic treatment should only be conducted if the source water is of very good quality.
Conventional treatment normally includes the following treatment steps: coagulation/flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, disinfection and stabilisation.
Advanced treatment normally entails specialized treatment such as activated carbon filtration, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, ozone, etc. These technologies are normally applied to treat specific problematic waters.
Further general information related to water treatment systems is contained within the following sections: