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3.2.

Water coagulation plant The water contains material particles of extremely small size charged with electricity of the same sign(+ ) . Due to their permanent motion and small size they can not be retained in basins. In the coagulation station, special substances (coagulants) are injected which neutralize the electrical charge of the particles, which in turn allow these particles to coagulate ( to adhere to each other) and then to settle down on the bottom of the next basin .

3.3. Settling tank It uses the same principle as the sand cleaning basin, except that in the settling tank the particles are very small (silt = ml ) and also the coagulated particles. Using the same principle as the sand clearing basins, the settling tanks have much bigger dimensions that the sand clearing basins due to smaller settling velocity of the particles.

To reduce the area required by the settling tanks, several solutions are currently used: radial settling tanks . clarifiers ( decantoare suspensionale ) In the settling tank an amount of 75% - 80% of the particles are retained from the water.

Filter plant Here the water has to penetrate a layer of calibrated sand, which is sand of equal dimensions. After the filter plant we can say that the water has no more solid particles in it. During the penetration of the sand layer the same phenomenon takes place (but with higher speed) as during the water tapping from aquifer layers. There -are 3 types of filtres : a) slow filters ( filtre lente ) b) rapid filtres c) high speed filters ( filtre ultrarapide ) The types a) and b) are used in drinking water supply systems, while type c) is used in industrial water supply systems .

Slow filtres There are 3 stages during their functioning : stage 1 ,when a biologic membrane is formed at the surface of the sand layer with of a small thickness; stage 2 , when the biologic membrane filters the water at high level parameters ; stage 3 , when an aggradations phenomena takes places the membrane cracks and has to be clean out .

A slow filter is presented bellow:

Rapid filters A rapid filter is presented in the figure:

Versus a slow filter, in a rapid filter, the water speed is higher and no biologic membrane is formed. The filtering process takes place along the entire thickness of the sand layer. The filtering by slow filters yields in a higher water quality, but, of course, the process is slower .

High speed filters The water penetrates the filter under high pressure. The resulted water is not drinkable. They are used for industrial purposes.

3.5. Decontamination plants It can be done using: chemical techniques ( using chlorine , ozone ) bacteriological techniques.

The decontamination process aims at oxidation of organic substances and their transformation into mineral substances. In Romania the technique using chlorine is used and it consists in injecting a solution of gaseous chlorine which mixed with water yields into hypochlorous acid which being unstable yields into oxygen. As a protection measure, at least 30 minutes have to pass till the water is drinkable. When the ozone is used, the water quality is higher (the water has no taste and no smell) but the energy consumption to produce ozone is very high and, therefore the process is expensive.

4. Water tanks They can be: underground tanks half underground tanks tower tanks ( castele de apa ) .

The underground and half-underground tanks may have a circular or polygonal form, are made of concrete and have capacities from 500 m3 up to 50,000 m3. The tower tanks have a tower on top of which a water tank is built. They may be made up of concrete or metal. Their functionalities are: 1) preserving the water quality ; 2) providing a pressure in the water supply system; 3) providing the balancing flows ( debite de compensare ) ; 4) providing a fire reserve; 5) providing a damage reserve ( volum de avarii ) .

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