6. Conclusion

Gone are the days when all groundwater was simply pumped, chlorinated and distributed, and all surface water treatment processes were designed according to the classic "pre-chlorination – coagulation – flocculation – settling – deep filtration – disinfection" scheme.

The (now quantifiable) presence of numerous mineral and organic micropollutants in the resource (or formed during treatment and/or distribution), increasingly comprehensive and stringent regulations, consumer demands, etc. have led water suppliers and distributors to design much more sophisticated and efficient treatment processes. Most of these so-called "conventional" processes are described in this article for groundwater and surface water, along with a few tests essential to their optimization.

However, conventional treatment processes are potentially flawed (under-dosing...