Swimming pool water treatment

Swimming pool water treatment means that in order to remain swimming pool water clear and clean swimming pool water must undergo treatment.Affter treatment, swimming pool water free from harmful substances,algae, viruses, bacteria and other pathogens and suitable for use by swimmers.

Purification
Swimming pool water is treated by means of various purification steps. The water is first transported from swimming pools to a water purification plant. In the water purification plant, it will flow through a hair removal filter, which removes raw pollutions, such as hairs, plasters and leaves, from water. After that, a flocculantis added, which causes smaller colloids to bind together. Colloids are visible floating particles of organic matter, such as skin tissue and textile fibers. This group of pollutants also concerns colloidal pollutants, such as saliva, soap remains, cosmetic products and skin fats. When these pollutants are abundant, they cause turbidity.

Parameters that indicate the presence of undissolved particles are water turbidity and potassium permanganate (KMnO4) demand of the water. Potassium permanganate is used as an indicator of organic matter oxidation.

Floating particles are removed from water in a sandfilter. The sandfilter is backflushed periodically. Finally, pollutants are discharged into the sewer.

Disinfection
Disinfectants are used to kill any remaining microorganisms in the water; it is an important process of water treatment as it can prevent pathogenic microorganisms from causing human disease. There are many ways to disinfect swimming pool water:

Chlorine disinfection – Chlorine is capable of killing many microorganisms, but when it reacts with substances that may be present in the water, dangerous carcinogenic chemicals may be formed. This problem can be overcome by using chlorine dioxide which is effective at low concentrations.

Ozone disinfection – This type of disinfection works by using oxygen atoms to destroy particles through oxidisation. This is an effective method to kill microorganisms and is not harmful to human health.

UV-radiation – This type of disinfection is growing in popularity. It is more natural in its way of killing microorganisms as it uses UV rays to kill germs.

Water Balance
pH is the most important element in swimming pool water chemistry – It affects every other chemical balance in the pool water. pH is a scale for measuring the pools acidity or alkalinity level. Although the pH level is the most important element contributing to water balance there are other factors that also influence water balance.

The pH level indicates the relative acidity or alkalinity of your pool water. pH is measured on a scale from 0 (strong acid) to 14 (strong alkaline) and pH neutral is 7. In pools a slightly alkaline level between 7.2 & 7.6 is ideal because this range is the most comfortable to the human eye, provides optimum use of free chlorine and provides water that is not corrosive or scale forming.

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