Adsorption methods for treating organically coloured upland waters

Abstract
Conventional methods for treating highly coloured upland raw waters for potable water supply are relatively inefficient. Adsorption of organic colour either by activated carbon, activated alumina or bone char, particularly after preozonation of the raw water, is a possible alternative method that may be more cost‐effective. This paper summarises the properties of each adsorbent and discusses their relative performance and suitability as methods for removing organic colour from highly coloured raw waters.