
What is the best water treatment?
In 1804 the first actual municipal water treatment plant designed by Robert Thom, was built in Scotland. The water treatment was based on slow sand filtration, and horse and cart distributed the water. Some three years later, the first water pipes were installed.
What is the correct order of water treatment?
500 B.C. First Water Filter Invented. In around 500 B.C. Hippocrates the father of modern medicine invented the first type of water filter device which they named the Hippocrates sleeve . The sleeve was a piece of fabric that filtered boiled water to …
What is the process of water treatment?
Nov 26, 2012 · A Century of U.S. Water Chlorination and Treatment: One of the Ten Greatest Public Health Achievements of the 20th Century. American drinking water supplies are among the safest in the world. The disinfection of water has played a critical role in improving drinking water quality in the United States. In 1908, Jersey City, New Jersey was the ...
What are the methods of home water treatment?
May 24, 2017 · Ancient Water Treatment Methods - The History of Water Treatment. ... Robert Thom, in 1827, invented a slow sand filtration process that was installed in the town of Greenock Scotland. In 1829, along came James Simpson, who created a similar system that ended up being used largely around the world.
Why are the Dark Ages called the Dark Ages?
These centuries where also known as the Dark Ages, because of a lack of scientific innovations and experiments. After the fall of the Roman Empire enemy forces destroyed many aqueducts, and others were no longer applied. The future for water treatment was uncertain.
What did the Romans build?
Later, the Romans started building many of these structures. They named them aqueducts. In Latin, aqua means ‘water’, and ducere means ‘to lead’. Roman aqueducts were very sophisticated pieces of engineering that were powered entirely by gravity, and carried water over extremely large distances.
When was water treatment invented?
Significant historical events forming the basis for today's water treatment systems. In ancient Greek and Sanskrit (India) writings dating back to 2000 BC, water treatment methods were recommended. People back than knew that heating water might purify it, and they were also educated in sand and gravel filtration, ...
Who discovered the healing powers of water?
Pictures of this purification technique were found on the wall of the tomb of Amenophis II and Ramses II. After 500 BC, Hippocrates discovered the healing powers of water.
What was Archimedes' invention?
One of his findings was a device to transport water from lower water bodies to higher land. He called this invention the water screw.
Where are aqueducts found?
Today, aqueducts can still be found on some locations in France, Germany, Spain and Turkey.
Who invented the water screw?
Archimedes invented his water screw. Aqueducts. The Assyrians built the first structure that could carry water from one place to another in the 7th century BC. It was 10 meters high and 300 meters long, and carried the water 80 kilometres across a valley to Nineveh.
2000 B.C. Ancient Civilizations
In ancient civilizations, cities were usually established around sources of water such as rivers and streams as is the case today as well.
1500 B.C. Findings
At this time there is evidence in Egyptian civilization that shows a method of purifying water in which they siphoned water through a series of wick siphons.
500 B.C. First Water Filter Invented
In around 500 B.C. Hippocrates the father of modern medicine invented the first type of water filter device which they named the Hippocrates sleeve .
Middle Dark Ages
For the following 1000 years or so there was a time period where not much scientific or technological advancement was made in water technology.
1600-1700s
This was the first time period where wood, sponge, and charcoal filters were used more frequently and incorporated into the water filtration processes.
1800
During this time the first municipal treatment plant was designed in Scotland by Robert Thom and Chlorination was found effective to address germs such as cholera.
The 1900s
This was the first time when water softening and ion exchange treatments gained credibility.
What is the greatest achievement of the 20th century?
A Century of U.S. Water Chlorination and Treatment : One of the Ten Greatest Public Health Achievements of the 20th Century. American drinking water supplies are among the safest in the world. The disinfection of water has played a critical role in improving drinking water quality in the United States. In 1908, Jersey City, New Jersey was the first ...
How many cases of cholera were there in the US in 1900?
The occurrence of diseases such as cholera and typhoid dropped dramatically. In 1900, the occurrence of typhoid fever in the United States was approximately 100 cases per 100,000 people. By 1920, it had decreased to 33.8 cases per 100,000 people.
When was the first water disinfection?
In 1908 , Jersey City, New Jersey was the first city in the United States to begin routine disinfection of community drinking water. Over the next decade, thousands of cities and towns across the United States followed suit in routinely disinfecting their drinking water, contributing to a dramatic decrease in disease across the country (Fig 1).
What did John Snow discover about cholera?
In the 1850s, British scientist John Snow discovered that a cholera outbreak was due to contamination of water pumps by sewer water. He added chlorine to the water, starting what would become water disinfection.
How did ancient Greeks purify water?
As far back as 2000 BC, people had devised methods for water treatment. The earliest documented methods come from ancient Greek writings that suggested heating water by boiling it over fire and using the sun. They also discussed filtering water using gravel and sand. The Greeks’ major motive in purifying the water was to make it taste better, since they had no way of knowing at the time the real difference between dirty and clean water.
When did the idea of purifying water start?
It wasn't until the 1600s AD that a treatment idea to purify larger quantities of water started to come into play. In 1671, English philosopher and scientist Sir Francis Bacon attempted to remove salt particles from sea water.
Who invented the sleeve?
In the 9 th century BC, Greek physician Hippocrates (also known as the father of medicine) created a device called the “Hippocrates Sleeve.”. He used a cloth bag as a strainer to pour boiled water through, eliminating foul smell. The Greeks and Romans both used very detailed purifying systems for water.
What is the purpose of the Safe Drinking Water Act?
The purpose of these acts was to ensure that everyone had access to clean and safe drinking water, and it has the general principle today that everyone around the world should have access to clean drinking water.
When was ozone added to water?
In 1902 , calcium hypochlorite was added to water in Belgium, both disinfecting and coagulating. In 1906, scientists introduced ozone as a disinfectant in France. Along with these discoveries, families started installing water purifying systems in their homes.
When did the drinking water standards start?
Drinking water standards were put into place in the U.S. in 1914 for public drinking water supplies. Water standards for all municipal drinking water followed in the 1940s. It wasn't until 1972 that the United States passed the Clean Water Act. The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) followed in 1974.
Early Treatment Techniques
Water treatment techniques can be traced back to between 2000-4000BC. Prior to this, societies largely determined the quality of water supplies by taste, smell and appearance alone.
The Beginnings of Modern Water Treatment Systems
While early water treatment dealt with visible particles (e.g. cloudy water) and improvements to taste, it was the invention of the microscope in the 17th century that led to the next big leap forward in water treatment.
The Current and Future Situation
Although there have been great water treatment improvements since the late 19th century, they

Water Treatment Starts in Ancient Times
- Ancient Greek and Sanskrit writings dating as far back as 2000 BCrecommend methods for water treatment. Even then, people knew that water could be purified with heat, and they practiced sand and gravel filtration, boiling, and straining. Their primary motivation in doing this was to make w…
Water Treatment Is Reborn After Fading Away
- Water treatment in the Middle Ages (500-1500 AD) became less sophisticated, as the Roman aqueducts fell into disrepair with the collapse of the Roman Empire. In these times, relatively little was done to ensure public access to a clean water supply. Sir Francis Bacon restarted the advancement of water treatment practices in 1627, when he began experiments in seawater des…
Water Treatment Advances Into Modernity
- America began building large sand filters in the 1890s. Rapid sand filtration outperformed slow sand filtration, and they used a jet stream to clean the filter and improve its capacity. Researchers also discovered that filtration worked better when you treated the water with coagulation and sedimentation first. At the same time, water chlorinationbecame more widespread and waterbor…