Removal of purgeable organic chlorine compounds by activated carbon adsorption.

The increasing demand for drinking water in the city of Cologne could no longer be met solely by ground water resources. A group of wells was placed in a meander of the Rhine River south of Cologne in order to draw bank-infiltrated ground water from the river. Geohydrological conditions at that location assure that the pumped raw water is mainly bank-infiltrated water from the Rhine River. The relatively long underground passage, of about 600 m, provides significant pretreatment of the river water.