Glossary
Water that is discharged to sewers or other collection points following its use in households or during indusrial processes. Water collected during mining or oil & gas extraction processes is also referred to as wastewater. There is a growing emphasis on treating wastewater enabling its reuse.
The removal of undesirable materials and contaminants from source water to improve quality to a standard that makes the water suitable for specific purposes, for example potable use, food processing and mineral processing.
This is a generic term describing the many and varied processes used to make water suitable for specific purposes. Examples range from filtration of fresh water to remove sediments and make it suitable for potable use to complex reverse osmosis processes allied with other treatments to remove salts and other contaminants. Apart from desalination, such processes are often used to treat wastewater making it suitable for reuse for irrigation, environmental and industrial purposes.