TABLE 10. Typical Limits for Impurities in Water Supplies
Impurity Limit, ppm Impurity Limit, ppm
Turbidity 10 Iron plus manganese 0.3
Color 20 Magnesium 125
Lead 0.1 Total solids 500
Fluoride 1.0 Total hardness 100
Copper 3.0 Ca + Mg saltsA rapid sand filter would require 30.096/150 - 0.2 acre (809.4 m^2 ). Hence, if space
were scarce in this city—and it usually is—a rapid sand filter would be used. With this
choice of filtration, chemical coagulation and sedimentation are almost a necessity.
Hence, these two additional steps would be included in the treatment process.
Table 11 gives pertinent data on both slow and rapid sand filters. These data are useful
in filter selection.
- Select the softening process to use
The principal water-softening processes use: (a) lime and sodium carbonate followed by
sedimentation or filtration, or both, to remove the precipitates and (b) zeolites of the sodi-
um type in a pressure filter. Zeolite softening is popular and is widely used in municipal
water-supply systems today. Based on its proven usefulness and economy, zeolite soften-
ing will be chosen for this installation.
TABLE 11. Typical Sand-Filter Characteristics
Slow sand filters
Usual filtration rate 2.5 to 6.0 x 106 gal/(acre-day) [2339
to5613L/(m^2 -day)]
Sand depth 30 to 36 in (76 to 91 cm)
Sand size 35 mm
Sand uniformity coefficient 1.75
Water depth 3 to 5 ft (0.9 to 1.5 m)
Water velocity in underdrains 2 ft/s (0.6 m/s)
Cleaning frequency required 2 to 11 times per year
Units required At least two to permit alternate cleaningFast sand filtersUsual filtration rate 100 to 200 x 106 gal/(acre-day) [24.7
to 49.4 kL/(m^2 -day)]
Sand depth 30 in (76 cm)
Gravel depth 18 in (46 cm)
Sand size 0.4 to 0.5 mm
Sand uniformity coefficient 1.7 or less
Units required At least three to permit cleaning one
unit while the other two are operating