Potable Water Chemicals | Drinking Water Treatment

Potable Water Treatment

To ensure water is ready for potable use, it needs to be treated with disinfectants such as chlorine, chlorine dioxide, chloramine, and ozone to kill bacteria and viruses, as well as coagulants such as aluminium sulphate to remove suspended particles. Other chemicals include sodium hydroxide, which is used to adjust pH levels, and polymers, which are used as flocculants to help remove impurities from water.

Without proper treatment, impure drinking water can spread diseases, corrode infrastructure, and harm ecosystems. These not only leave your potable water plant with thousands of dollars in repair costs but also result in fines, reputational damage, or costly upgrades.

Potable Drinking Water Treatment Experts

For over 30 years, we’ve helped a range of industries such as remote mine sites, food processing facilities, and municipal treatment plants in ensuring their water is fit for potable use.

With our methodical four-step approach, we combine extensive expertise, advanced water treatment technologies and state-of-the-art equipment to provide tailored potable water solutions that drive results. This allows us to remove bacteria, viruses, suspended solids, dissolved metals, dissolved nutrients, and even treat pure water to create clean, potable water, ensuring your plant stays within Australian regulations.

Signs Your Potable Water System Needs Treatment

Even small changes in water quality can affect system performance, safety, and compliance. Knowing what to look for helps you identify when your water supply or treatment system may need attention. Some signs to watch for include:

Unusual Taste or Odour: Metallic, earthy, or chlorine-like flavours can signal an imbalance in your potable water chemicals or upstream contamination.
Discolouration or Sediment: Cloudy or brownish water may indicate corrosion, scaling, or sediment build-up in tanks or pipelines.
Scaling on Fixtures or Equipment: Mineral deposits form when hardness or pH is not correctly managed, reducing flow and efficiency.
Bacterial Growth: Biofilm or slime on internal pipework may point to poor disinfection control or low residual chlorine dioxide levels.
Frequent Filter Changes or Blockages: If filters clog faster than usual, suspended solids or organic matter could be rising in the feedwater.

Inconsistent Chlorine Residuals: Irregular readings in disinfectant levels may indicate chemical dosing or system calibration issues.

How These Issues Affect Your Potable Water System

If left unchecked, potable water quality issues can impact performance, safety, and compliance. Here’s how they can affect your operations:

Reduced Water Quality: Poor chemical balance or sediment build-up leads to cloudy, off-tasting water that fails health and aesthetic standards.
Corrosion and Equipment Damage: Uncontrolled pH or aggressive water conditions corrode pipes, tanks, and fittings, increasing maintenance costs.
Bacterial Contamination: Inadequate disinfection allows bacteria such as Legionella and coli to grow, posing health and compliance risks.
Scaling and Flow Restriction: Mineral scaling reduces pressure and increases energy consumption in pumps and heating systems.

Increased Operational Costs: More frequent chemical use, filter replacement, or unplanned shutdowns adds to running costs.

How We Treat Water For Potable Use

At WTS, we deliver high-performance potable water treatment programs that make water safe, clean and compliant with Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. Whether your plant sources from groundwater, surface water, seawater or recycled water, our approach ensures every drop is fit for use.

Our range of advanced treatments includes:

Disinfection and pathogen control using on-site chlorine dioxide generators for precise, stable and effective disinfection across municipal, mining and food processing applications.
Coagulation and flocculation that clarify turbid raw water. This is done by binding and settling suspended solids for improved filtration and safety.
Antiscalants and corrosion inhibitors to prevent scaling and corrosion in pipes, tanks and filtration systems. This helps extend equipment life and maintain water flow.
Membrane and filtration optimisation to protect RO, UF and nano-filtration systems. This helps prevent fouling while improving recovery and energy efficiency.
pH Correction and mineral balance stabilising treated water chemistry. This also ensures an ideal balance of essential minerals such as calcium and magnesium for safe, palatable water.
Potable water disinfection programs for sites that manage complete protection from intake to outlet.
Monitoring and control technologies to provide real-time chemical dosing and remote sensing. These provide precise water quality management and reduce risk of unplanned shutdowns.

We use proven potable water chemical treatment solutions alongside our advanced monitoring and control technologies to help your plant produce consistent, high-quality water. Our chemistry experts work with you to find a customised solution that reduces maintenance costs, optimises chemical spend, conserves water, reduces risk, and ensures your potable water stays compliant with Australian regulations.

Achieving Potable Water Use: Solving Challenges

Potable Reservoir Disinfection for Remote Town

Client Problem: A refurbished drinking water reservoir in a remote Queensland town required full disinfection to meet Australian standards and ensure a safe potable water supply for the community.

WTS Solution: WTS delivered a controlled sodium hypochlorite disinfection program with verified mixing, monitoring, and microbiological testing to achieve the required residual over a 24-hour period.

Benefits: Successful disinfection was confirmed through laboratory testing, ensuring compliance, public safety, and confidence in the town’s potable water supply.

Contact Us About Potable Water Chemicals

We work with you to define what success means for your potable waterneeds . Goals may be the reduction of maintenance costs, optimisation of your chemical spend, conservation of water and energy, and overall reduction of risk. Typically, we employ our proprietary process control and remote sensing technologies for monitoring and optimising our solutions.

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