ABSTRACT
Unit processes should be applied individually or in sequences and operated to produce an effluent water within the required standards for any raw water quality entering the treatment premises. Basically, the assessment of water quality as a whole involves measurement of a considerable number of parameters, and this cannot be accomplished on a permanent basis in everyday plant operation. Besides wanting to meet a given particular standard (e.g., in the case of the presence of a specific industrial pollutant), the plant operation relies on a limited number of parameters controlled continuously (e.g., residual concentrations, overall group parameters such as turbidity, pH, bacterial count, zeta potential, and so on, and also on simulation tests such as the jar test, filtrability, and sludge characteristics. All these data require regular updating of correspondence with the more detailed analytical determination of all specific water quality parameters. Although several attempts have been made, there does not yet exist a general integrated scheme correlating water quality and treatment processes as a whole. The purpose of the present chapter is to comment on the scope and limitations of the nonspecific testing procedures applicable to unit processes. For specific analytical methods, appropriate handbooks should be consulted.
