🔍 Key Concepts
• Reverse osmosis (RO) pre-treatment is designed to remove suspended solids, silt, and organics before the RO membranes.
• Water quality differences between harbors, open sea, and temperature changes (cold vs warm water).
• How turbidity, pollution, and biological load** affect filters and pre-treatment units.
💭 Think About
• In which of these four conditions is seawater usually the dirtiest, with the most suspended solids, silt, oil, and contamination?
• Under what kind of conditions would filters clog fastest and require the most backwashing or cartridge changes?
• Do temperature changes alone (cold vs hot water) usually add a lot of dirt or silt, or mainly change RO efficiency and output?
✅ Before You Answer
• Identify which option typically has highest turbidity and pollution levels.
• Consider when the intake strainers, filters, and dosing systems would be working the hardest to keep contaminants away from the RO membranes.
• Eliminate any options where the main change is only temperature, not a big increase in suspended solids or contaminants.