Addressing Acidified Lakes
Acidified lakes suffer from a low pH level, often caused by acid rain. The primary goal when treating such lakes is to neutralize the excess acidity and restore a more suitable pH for aquatic life. This process involves raising the pH and increasing the water's buffering capacity.
Analysis of Treatment Options
Several methods can be used for water treatment, but only one is specifically suited for neutralizing acidity in lakes:
- Ammoniation: Involves adding ammonia. This is typically used for disinfection or nutrient addition and does not effectively counteract lake acidity.
- Liming: This method involves adding alkaline substances, commonly lime (like calcium carbonate, $CaCO_3$, or calcium oxide, $CaO$). These substances react with and neutralize the acids present in the water, thereby increasing the pH. This is the standard and recommended practice for treating acidified lakes.
- Ozonation: Uses ozone ($O_3$) primarily for disinfection and oxidation of contaminants. It does not neutralize acidity.
- Chlorination: Uses chlorine ($Cl_2$) or chlorine compounds mainly for disinfection. It is not suitable for addressing lake acidification.
Therefore, Liming is the recommended action for acidified lakes because it directly neutralizes the acidity and raises the water pH.
Important Questions from Water Treatment - Teaching
Which out of the following does NOT help in disinfecting water?
The best method for controlling taste and odor problems in water is through ______ process.
The coagulant ‘alum’ used for treatment of water is also known as:
________ is the most recent innovation in desalting processes.
A town has an existing horizontal flow sedimentation tank with an overflow rate of 17 m 3/day/m 2, and it is desirable to remove particles that have settling velocity of 0.1 mm/second. Assuming the tank is an ideal sedimentation tank, the percentage of particle’s removal would be approximately equal to:
