ABSTRACT
The treatment of water to ensure its potability requires the removal of contaminants doomed injurious to human health. These contaminants may exist in any form - suspended solids, dissolved organics, dissolved inorganics, microorganisms or dissolved gases. The membrane separation technologies of cross-flow microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis are among the most versatile with regard to their ability to effectively remove the widest variety of contaminants at the lowest cost. Although reverse osmosis (RO) has been used for many years to purify raw water supplies for potable applications, water shortages and increasing demands for high-quality water have created interest in the utilization of municipal wastewater as new supply sources. Membrane technologies, with 40 years of water treatment history and new generations of polymers and device configurations, offer great potential for an almost untapped drinking water resource, wastewater reuse.
