Water Treatment

We take baths with clean water. We drink clean water. We wash our clothes and food with clean water. Water we use every day comes from streams, ponds, rivers, and other natural sources. These water sources can become polluted. Mother Nature does her part to clean the water through the water cycle. But the water cycle can’t keep up with the pollution that people and animals create.

In the United States, we treat drinking water before it comes to our tap so that we don’t get sick from using polluted water. We also treat water after we use it and before returning it to the environment. We do this to remove pollutants so that they don’t harm our waterways and the plants and animals that live there. All used water goes through wastewater treatment, whether it was used in homes, on farms, or in industry.

Some content courtesy of the National Library of Medicine.