Water treatment  applies to industrial plants, building operation, that is closed heating and cooling systems, Chillers, open cooling tower systems, steam systems and to a small extent domestic water supplies and swimming pools.

Water Chemistry

To understand why we have trouble with water, it would be well to know something about the properties of water and what the impurities are. Water, as you know, has a chemical name: H₂O, which means it is composed f Hydrogen (a gas) and Oxygen (a gas). Water is a liquid up to 212⁰F and atmospheric pressure at sea level) above which it is a gas, below 32⁰F water is a solid called ice. it is a phenomenon of water that it expands when in the form of ice - hence it floats. Water is also non-compressible in the liquid phase. It can, of course, be compressed when in the gas form. It might be well to point out that the carbonate hardness is called Temporary Hardness and any Sulphate Hardness is called Permanent Hardness.

Water Softeners

The ordinary water softener contains a synthetic resin called Sodium Zeolite. As the water passes through the resin, the following reaction takes place and you obtain soft water:

You will notice that the only part of the water removed is the hardness - the alkalinity is not changed.

pH

Is a measure of the H ion activity of the water. It is represented as a scale from 1 to 14, 7 is the neutral point. 1 to 7 is acid - and 7 to 14 is caustic.

Cycles of Concentration

When water is evaporated, the solids are left behind. The cycles of concentration are the number of times the solids are concentrated by evaporation. For example, 4 cycles of concentration of city water would be water having 4 times more solids than city water.