Potable water production from pesticide contaminated surface water—A membrane based approach

The aim of the present study is to obtain safe and pure drinking water from surface water, which has been polluted with pesticide. Pesticide contaminated surface water samples were prepared by spiking commonly used pesticide, Isoproturon, in different surface water samples collected from different parts of India. Attempts were made to evaluate the efficiency of different adsorbents in removing pesticide from distilled water. Dosages and contact time of the selected adsorbent, pH were varied in order to optimise the treatment parameters for maximum removal of pesticide. Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm were also established in this adsorption study. Coagulation and then adsorption studies were performed on pesticide contaminated surface water as pre-treatment to reduce membrane fouling. Nanofiltration was done on pre-treated water in a test cell in dead end mode. The NF permeate was analysed for pH, turbidity, TDS, COD, TOC, conductivity, hardness, and colony count. RO was suggested after NF if necessary. The quality of NF/RO permeate water compared well with the potable water of our laboratory.