Water Chemistry and Microbiology

Water is essential to life; therefore, providing access to safe and clean water is a major concern for health development at the local, national, and regional levels. Enhancing water quality by improving sanitation systems needs a profound understanding of water chemistry and microbiology. This chapter will give an overview of water chemistry and microbiology. The chapter will be divided into two main parts: the first one will discuss water chemistry in terms of its physical properties and the main chemical processes that takes place within water bodies, the main parameters that govern the water quality, and water quality management. This section will finally mark out the basics of water treatment processes. The second part will be devoted to water microbiology where the main concepts that are encountered when discussing water microbiology will be outlined. An overview will be given of the different types of microorganisms and their classification as well as the main processes they carry out in living cell such as metabolism, respiration, and microbial growth. A brief synopsis will be depicted about the main diseases caused by microorganisms that could be present in water bodies, the main microbial indicator, as well as the main analytical tests for microbial indicators. This section will also give a short overview about microbial control and the terms related to it such as disinfection. The final part of this section will delineate the role of microorganisms in wastewater treatment plants.