ES 
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FR Drinking Water, Desalinated Water and Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plants
A water treatment plant is the industrial facility that transforms raw water from rivers, the sea or industrial effluents into water suitable for human consumption or for safe discharge. At SOTECMA we design, manufacture and install turnkey DWTP, SWDP and IWWTP plants.
Do you need a turnkey water treatment plant? Engineering, manufacturing and installation with a fixed technical quotation during the project phase. → Contact SOTECMA.
What is a water treatment plant?
A water treatment plant is an industrial facility designed to transform raw water—from rivers, reservoirs, wells, the sea or industrial effluents—into water suitable for a specific use: human consumption, industrial use or environmental discharge.
The type of process depends on the source of the water and its final destination. SOTECMA designs, manufactures and installs turnkey plants in three main areas: drinking water treatment, desalination and industrial wastewater treatment.
Types: drinking water, desalinated water and industrial wastewater
There are three main types of water treatment plants depending on the source of the raw water and the desired result:
- Drinking Water Treatment Plants (DWTP) — convert river, reservoir or well water into drinking water in accordance with Royal Decree 3/2023.
- Desalination Plants (SWDP) — remove the salinity from seawater or brackish water by means of reverse osmosis.
- Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plants (IWWTP) — treat industrial effluents for safe discharge or reuse.
The following sections describe each of these areas.
Comparison: DWTP, SWDP and IWWTP
Summary of the three water treatment plant lines that SOTECMA designs, manufactures and installs on a turnkey basis:
| DWTP | SWDP | IWWTP |
|---|---|---|
| Drinking Water Treatment Plant | Seawater or Brackish Water Desalination | Industrial Wastewater Treatment |
| Input Raw water from rivers, reservoirs or wells. |
Input Seawater or brackish water. |
Input Industrial effluents. |
| Process Coagulation, flocculation, filtration and disinfection, using activated carbon where required. |
Process Pre-treatment and desalination by reverse osmosis. |
Process Physical-chemical and biological treatment according to the nature of the effluent. |
| Output Drinking water suitable for human consumption in accordance with Royal Decree 3/2023. |
Output Fresh water suitable for human consumption or industrial use. |
Output Water suitable for environmental discharge or industrial reuse. |
Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC) is used in drinking water production to solve problems that are generally seasonal or of short- to medium-term duration. Activated carbon improves drinking water quality by removing various undesirable substances, including MIB (taste and odour), pesticides, trihalomethanes, algal toxins, VOCs, EDCs and by improving water colour.
The operator will appreciate the dosing adjustment due to the cost of the product and the reliable handling of the different types of PAC, with variations in density and behaviour both in solid form and as a slurry. Depending on the requirements, the system can be highly versatile, operating in either continuous or batch mode.
It is an industrial facility that transforms raw water from rivers, the sea or industrial effluents into water suitable for human consumption or safe discharge. It combines physical processes (filtration, sedimentation), chemical processes (coagulation, flocculation, disinfection) and, depending on the source, biological or membrane processes (reverse osmosis).
A DWTP treats river, reservoir or well water to produce drinking water. An SWDP desalinated seawater or brackish water by means of reverse osmosis. An IWWTP treats industrial effluents before discharge or reuse. All three can be integrated into a single turnkey installation.
A Drinking Water Treatment Plant (DWTP) is an installation that converts surface or groundwater into water suitable for human consumption in compliance with Royal Decree 3/2023. It includes pre-treatment, coagulation-flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and disinfection.
