Chapter 6
Strategies and Limitations of Water
Treatment Methods for Point-of-Use
Application
N. R. Srinivasan, M. Kamaraj, and S. Venkatesa Prabhu
Abstract Water-related diseases threaten human survival across the globe. This is
because of the severe contamination of water all over the world. Water is being
contaminated due to the rapid growth of population and industrialization. As a result,
the demand for potable water is increased in many developing countries. The surface
sources for potable water are rivers, lakes, and aquifers. Particularly, to ensure its
quality, water obtained from these sources should be free from chemical and
biological contaminants. In developing countries, most of the people (60%) depend
on the groundwater source. However, groundwater needs to be treated as the soil
does not remove all the contaminants. Moreover, in various parts of the world, water
supply is done through the network of pipelines to the individual consumers from
water treatment plants. The quality of water may get degraded due to the formation
of rust while flowing through pipes. Chlorination is a widely adopted method in
many countries for water disinfection. It exhibits low disinfection efficiency and
results in the generation of toxic by-products. This chapter describes the strategies
and limitations of water treatment methods to remove both chemical and biological
contaminants for point-of-use applications.
Keywords Chemical disinfectants · Physical disinfectants · Filtration methods ·
Comparison of treatment technologies
N. R. Srinivasan (*) · S. V. Prabhu
Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Addis
Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Nanotechnology Center of Excellence, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
M. Kamaraj
Nanotechnology Center of Excellence, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
Department of Biotechnology, College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Addis Ababa
Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. Aravind et al. (eds.), Strategies and Tools for Pollutant Mitigation,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63575-6_6
117
Strategies and Limitations of Water
Treatment Methods for Point-of-Use
Application
N. R. Srinivasan, M. Kamaraj, and S. Venkatesa Prabhu
Abstract Water-related diseases threaten human survival across the globe. This is
because of the severe contamination of water all over the world. Water is being
contaminated due to the rapid growth of population and industrialization. As a result,
the demand for potable water is increased in many developing countries. The surface
sources for potable water are rivers, lakes, and aquifers. Particularly, to ensure its
quality, water obtained from these sources should be free from chemical and
biological contaminants. In developing countries, most of the people (60%) depend
on the groundwater source. However, groundwater needs to be treated as the soil
does not remove all the contaminants. Moreover, in various parts of the world, water
supply is done through the network of pipelines to the individual consumers from
water treatment plants. The quality of water may get degraded due to the formation
of rust while flowing through pipes. Chlorination is a widely adopted method in
many countries for water disinfection. It exhibits low disinfection efficiency and
results in the generation of toxic by-products. This chapter describes the strategies
and limitations of water treatment methods to remove both chemical and biological
contaminants for point-of-use applications.
Keywords Chemical disinfectants · Physical disinfectants · Filtration methods ·
Comparison of treatment technologies
N. R. Srinivasan (*) · S. V. Prabhu
Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Addis
Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Nanotechnology Center of Excellence, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
M. Kamaraj
Nanotechnology Center of Excellence, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia
Department of Biotechnology, College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Addis Ababa
Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. Aravind et al. (eds.), Strategies and Tools for Pollutant Mitigation,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63575-6_6
117