A filter for purifying river water is needed where there is a surface water intake from a natural source. The filtering device removes suspended matter, significantly improves organoleptic characteristics and safety of use. At the same time, various filtration methods are used in water treatment plants, depending on the purpose of the liquid.
Application area
If the water is taken from a natural source, the liquid needs to be purified. The important question is to what extent the river water should be purified. For household and technical needs, watering garden plantings, it is enough to install a mechanical coarse filter, which will remove suspended matter.
To obtain water suitable for drinking and cooking, you will need devices for fine cleaning, for example, with carbon filters, as well as softening and disinfecting effects.
Softeners will be needed for a bath or pool if the source is saturated with hardness salts. The use of hard water, even after mechanical cleaning, can adversely affect the condition of human skin and hair.
When using rivers and lakes to supply water to industrial facilities, filter structures are also installed. These can be simple mechanical devices, if water is supplied, for example, for construction, and complex complexes for industries where a high degree of purification is required. The latter include the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries.
Types and principle of filter operation
The operation of river water filtration units is aimed at performing the following operations:
- Preliminary cleaning, which involves the elimination of coarse suspended solids. For this, mechanical strainers are usually used. The diameter of the retained fractions also depends on the size of the cell. But sometimes gravel options are also used. Thanks to such cleaning, the wear of the equipment is reduced, including for the fine purification of the liquid.
- Adsorption with the elimination of harmful substances, as well as the specific taste and smell of water from natural sources. The best sorbent is activated carbon due to the presence of micropores. It is poured into special cartridges, which are periodically changed. Used for adsorption and membrane type filters.
- Softening with removal of hardness salts, ferrous compounds. Iron removers and softeners can work using chemical reagents or on the principle of oxidizing metal suspensions that precipitate and are retained by the filter. In addition to health benefits, devices are needed to save household partings from scale and rust.
- Antibacterial cleansing to get rid of pathogenic microorganisms. Ultraviolet devices are more often used, which are easy to maintain and safe for health. Under the influence of UV radiation, most of the harmful bacteria, protozoa and even viruses die.
For simultaneous purification from harmful impurities and softening, ion-exchange devices are used. They are subdivided into hydrogen and sodium. In both cases, heavy metals and radioactive substances, passing through the filtration apparatus, are transformed into neutral compounds.
Reverse osmosis columns, which are equipped with special membranes that allow only water molecules to pass through, will give maximum purification.However, the liquid at the outlet is close to distilled, for drinking it must be enriched with valuable trace elements.
Criterias of choice
If the garden house is not equipped with running water, it is worth choosing a "marching" option - a filter that works without pressure. They are usually presented in the form of jugs with a carbon cartridge. The water flows down to the bottom of the container and becomes cleaner due to the fact that the micropores of the filtering material hold back harmful substances as well.
If the filtering device is chosen for a permanent residence, which is powered from an open source, it is advisable to create an integrated system. Its main elements:
- a device for coarse cleaning to eliminate mechanical impurities;
- ultraviolet sterilizer;
- a filtering apparatus based on activated carbon to absorb unpleasant odors and tastes, remove color and organic compounds;
- main electromagnetic softener;
- fine sand filter.
The number of filter elements depends on the individual water parameters. Only a rough cleaning will be required.
Before purchasing filtering devices, it is important to do a laboratory analysis of the incoming water in order to clearly determine which harmful components need to be disposed of.
