Abstract:
Water is most available and consumed
resources but even though it is abundant there is a
worldwide crisis for fresh water. People are not
getting enough fresh water for drinking and sanitation
need. In Rajasthan a state with ground water sources
with high salt content the most favourable treatment
is using Reverse osmosis technology which is one of
the most important and widely recognized
technologies for production of fresh water from
brackish groundwater.
The present study shows the results of a performance
analysis of small community scale reverse osmosis
units located in Jaipur, producing drinking water
from brackish groundwater. Vidhani treatment plant
of capacity of 1000 litres/ hour (LPH) at different
geographical locations and having varying Total
dissolved solids (TDS) in rural areas of Jaipur was
selected and analysed for several parameters related
to chemical quality of water and energy input with an
objective to assess the performance of these units. The
study has thrown open many reasons that explain
relatively accelerated fouling observed in these
membranes due to scaling by hardness causing
substances than that found in other areas of the
country. This results in a significant loss of useful life
of the membranes and hence calls for special
techniques to be adopted for their cleaning to improve
the overall performance.
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