Climate Change Champions

The water that we drink in the city of Hamilton is taken from Lake Ontario. The water is pumped out of the lake and undergoes a series of water treatment processes before it reaches our taps and showers. These treatment processes use up a lot of energy and hence the more water we waste, the more demand there is and more amount of water needs to be treated. A lot of energy is also expended when pumping the treated water from the treatment plant to individual houses and buildings. Hence the wastage of water is linked to wastage of energy which is in turn linked to increased global warming. 

Treatment Process

Lake water enters an intake pipe and is pumped to the Woodward Avenue Water Treatment Facility. The water treatment process consists of pre-chlorination, screening, clarification by means of coagulation with polyhydroxyaluminum chloride, floccuation by mechanical mixing, followed by sedimentation. The filtration process has been upgraded by the addition of granulated activated carbon in the filters to remove taste and odour. This condition is usually present in the water in the late summer, when algae are abundant. Chlorine and ammonia are added to the filtered water to bring the combined chlorine residual to approximately 1.3 milligrams per liter (mg/L). Hydrofluosilicic acid (fluoride) is added to the drinking water to promote dental health. [1]


[1] http://www.myhamilton.ca/myhamilton/CityandGovernment/CityDepartments/Pu...