Fourth class, accompanied by Ms Hallinan and Mrs Quinn visited the water Treatment plant at Lough Conn last Wednesday. We learned exactly how the water is treated to make it safe and palatable for humann consumption. Water is pumped from Lough Conn. Just as the water enters the pumps there is two screens to prevent fish and large debris from entering.
Inside the building there are 2 raw water pumps. The first one of these pumps (pump 1) pumps ½ million gallons of water per hour to the nearby water works station, Lisglennon. The second pump pumped 120 cubic litres of water per hour to this water works station. These pumps only operate at night as the electricity is cheaper.
Aluminium sulphate is then added to the water. When this is added, it bloats up the dirt particles to be much larger.
The next step is where polyelectrolyte is added. This causes the now enlarged dirt particles to stick together.Following this the water enters the settling tanks. These tanks are 34ft deep and after a period of time the dirt particles settle on the bottom of the tank forming a ‘cloud-like’ blanket.
The water flows into filter beds and the water filters down through sand and gravel. This is a very important stage of the cleaning process. Sand and four different types of stone are used as filters at this stage. At this point chlorine is added to kill any remaining germs. Fluoride is also added to help strengthen our teeth.
Finally it enters the clear water tank, en route to public taps.
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