CONTACT clarification flocculation process whereby is a water the c r f cation proce s whereby th raw water is applied directly to a filter without prior clarification by sedimentation, and which is designed to bring about flocculation, coagulation, and solids separation directly in the filter bed. The objective of the contact flocculation process is to remove the bulk of the applied suspended solids load directly in the filter, in order to produce a polished effluent of adequate or superior quality for a specified use, such as for potable water. The key to success of the contact flocculation process is the filter itself, because of its use both as a flocculation reactor and a floe storage reservoir. Fine-to-coarse media filters, such as used in conventional sand filtration, have not been found adequate for contact flocculation, because the fine media at the top of a conventional filter removes most of the incoming material, which causes a rapid buildup of headloss in the filter due to clogging of the topmost pores, and allows very little material to penetrate into, and be retained in, the deeper, coarse layers of media. In order to avoid the inherent