Water Filteration History

By liannij
  • 2000 BCE

    Water Treatment Method

    People thought that heating water would purify it. The major motive was to be able to get better tasting water, because they could tell the difference between foul and clean water. (Ancient Greek & India)
  • 1500 BCE

    Principal of Coagulation

    The Egyptians first discovered this. They applied the chemical alum for suspended particle settlememt.
  • 500 BCE

    Bag Filter

    Hippocrates discovered the healing power of water. he obtained the first bag filter, which can also be called to 'Hippocratic sleeve'. This was used to trap sediments that caused bad odours or taste.
  • 300 BCE

    Aqueducts & Archimedes

    Rome built it's first aqueducts, and Archimedes invented his water screw.
  • Water Treatment History Continued

    Sir Frances Bacon started experimenting with seawater desalination. He tried to remove salt particles by means of an unsophisticated form of sand filtration. It didn't exactly work.
  • First Water Filters for Domestic Application was applied

    These were made of wool, sponge, and charcoal.
  • First Municipal Water Treatment

    It was first actual municipal water Treatment plant, was designed by Robert Thom. It was built in Scotland. This particular water treatment was based on slow sand filtration.
  • Cholera Epidemic

    Cholera Epidemic spread through water. John Snow, a British scientist, found that the cause of this was water pump contamination by sewage water. He applied chlorine to purify it. However, it did not mean that it was safe to drink.
  • Sand Filters

    America started to create large sand filters to protect public health. Rapid sand filtration was now applied.
  • Water Softening

    It was invented as a technique for water desalination. Cations were removed from water by exchanging them by sodium or other cations.
  • Drinking Water Standards

    They were implemented for drinking water supplies in public traffic.
  • Public Health Concerns

    Public Health Concerns shifted from waterborne illnesses caused by disease-causing micro organisms, to anthropogenic water pollution.
  • SDWA

    Safe Drinking Water Act Was formulated. They developed that every person in the world had the right to drink clean water.
  • Membrane Development

    Membrane development for reverse osmosis was added to the list.
  • Risk assessments

    Risk assessments were enabled after 1990.