Chemicals for Water Treatment: An Essential Guide

Human waste, bacteria, viruses, pollutants, and dangerous pathogens!

All of these would be present in our aquatic ecosystems without proper chemical wastewater treatment. At best such things would seriously and negatively impact our ecosystem resulting in pollution and oxygen depletion. At worst this contaminated water could enter our drinking supply and cause life-threatening illness on a vast scale.

What this means is that proper water treatment is crucial. The good news is you can find out all about water treatment, how it's done, and how to ensure it's as safe as possible in the post below.

Common Water Treatment Chemicals

Four different types of chemicals are utilized in wastewater treatment. They are known as coagulants, flocculants, neutralizers, and anti-foaming agents.

Coagulants and Flocculants

A combination of these two types of chemicals is used in wastewater treatment to encourage sediment to clump so it can easily be separated and removed from the water.

Neutralizers

These keep the Ph at the correct level being neither too alkaline nor acidic.

Anti-foaming agents

These keep bubbles (foam) from appearing in the liquid by changing their physical properties. This is necessary because it makes the wastewater easier to process and prevents wear on the processing equipment.

Importance/Benefits of Water Treatment Chemicals

There are many benefits of using wastewater treatment chemicals. The first is that they provide increased access to water that would otherwise be unusable. No mean feat when less than 4% of our planet's water is safe to drink.

Additionally, using chemicals to treat wastewater can be good for the environment and it prevents pollutants from getting into the ecosystem and harming it.

Lastly, using the proper wastewater chemicals will save your business money as it will ensure compliance with your location's legislation and regulations.   

Risks Associated with Water Treatment Chemicals

There are risks that those handling wastewater treatment chemicals need to be aware of including asphyxiation, poisoning, projections, and inhalation. However, these risks can be mitigated with the proper safety procedures as detailed in the next section.

Safety Precautions when Handling Water Treatment Chemicals

Due to the risks associated with handling wastewater treatment chemicals, making sure your employees have the correct protective equipment and are trained to use it properly is crucial.

Two types of protective equipment are relevant to those using wastewater chemicals. The first type is known as PPE or personal protective equipment, while the second type is known as CPE or collective personal equipment.

PPE

PPE consists of items such as waterproof gloves that protect your hands when handling chemicals, masks with FFP2 protection for bioaerosols, and anti-gas flotation, and goggles that stop any chemical splashes from getting at your eyes.

CPE

CPE on the other hand is equipment that is utilized by all workers at the same time and includes showers that can be used for decontamination, ventilation systems that ensure a supply of clean air into the space in which you are working, and portable or fixed gas detectors which can help identify when levels are becoming too high.

Indeed, while all these types of protective equipment are important, decontamination showers are particularly vital as they can be used to minimize any injury that may occur from wastewater chemical exposure. To be properly effective, decontamination showers need to be accessible within 20 seconds of contamination and also need to be tested weekly to ensure they will work within this timescale when called upon.

Environmental Impact of Water Treatment Chemicals

In addition to the risk to persons that wastewater treatment chemicals pose, it's also important to consider any risk to the Environment.

Some chemicals that find their way into the aquatic ecosystem can be harmful over time, affecting the endocrine system of animals and impacting their reproduction. However, the chemicals used for wastewater treatment are designed to combat this, making any water released into the Environment far safer than any that has not gone through the purification process.

Additional wastewater chemical specialists are developing new formulas all the time to further reduce any chemical contamination of the wider environment via water that has been treated.

Choose North Industrial Chemicals For All Your Wastewater Chemical Treatment Needs!

Need the right chemicals to ensure the proper treatment of wastewater for your business or organization? Look no further than our experts here at North Industrial Chemicals.

Call now at 717-845-8647 to learn about our wide delivery radius, low delivery cost, and to experience our expert service.