Right from the old days until today, there has been a constant need for drinking pure and fresh water in our daily lives. There has been a constant work on the research and technology to provide us pure drinking water. There have been a number of studies, tests, and experiments on this subject, and it is a continuous process that is still going on. Scientists and technicians are working continuously to provide us with much purer water.
But the main question is that how does water get purified? What kind of process it has to undergo before it is purified? What are the different stages that water has to undergo before purification? Before we answer these questions, let us understand what water is?
Of all the substances found on earth, water is the essential substance for us human beings. As we know that human body contains more than 70% of water in their body. And 71% of the earth is water. On earth, we have different forms of water like- ocean, sea, lakes, rivers, and many other forms. Scientists have even claimed that due to the present global warming, the ice and snow in the glaciers and Arctic region will melt and the earth will completely be submerged underwater within a few centuries. The earth will be surrounded by water. Everything will be obliterated. Many natural disasters have been affected by water in many ways. Floods, tidal waves, typhoons, tsunami, etc. are all examples of water devastation.
Now, why do we use water in our daily lives? Water may not be literally put under the physiological stage, but water is under that first stage. Let’s see the basics – we use water for bathing, drinking, cooking food, washing clothes, and other things. Water has been and will always be an essential component of our lives.
The most alarming fact is that the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported the death of about 842,000 persons due to water-borne diseases. This figure can be reached upon at website. These deaths could have been prevented by having portable, clean, and pure water. Especially in remote areas, where proper sanitation is a big concern, water is unsafe and very unhygienic. This affects not only the adult population but also the children and in fact, everyone in the community.
The main aim here is to produce safe and pure drinking water for everyone. Water has a lot of chemicals, ions, algae, bacteria, parasites, nutrients, some minerals and a lot of other impurities. That’s why, depending on the mode of consumption of water, there are a number of water purification methods that are used by the water distribution authorities.
According to the Wikipedia.org, the methods are classified according to their processes. One of the physical processes is called infiltration. In infiltration, this involves filtering or screening of water for visible particles like stones or any other particles that can be seen through the naked eye and cause the problem to the person who drinks it.
Then there is sedimentation, that uses sedimentation basin or clarifier. It separates the amorphous metal hydroxide, from the water. The other name for this is DEmineralized water, which is not considered safe for human consumption. Removing minerals from water causes digestive and urinary related problems. The manufacturers of distilled water say that the minerals come from the food we eat and not the foolishly wrong water.
Other biological processes include the slow sand filter and rapid sand filter. In this process, actually, and is used in filtering water. The water is made to seep through layers of sand slowly and gradually until it is clean and safe for consumption. The rapid sand filter uses sand as well. This process uses a layer of activated carbon which removes terrible taste and odor in the water.
This is the most commonly used filter because of the layer, through which the water passes is so thin that the smaller particles can be filtered. These sand filters were used in the early 1800s. It was just the beginning of the start of water filters. This process of water purification was just in the experimental stages. This particular process was polished over the years and finally was used to supply drinking water in the United Kingdom.
Chlorination and flocculation are the terms used for the chemical process of purification of drinking water. This process is used to add chemicals to the drinking water so that it becomes pure for drinking, and both organic and inorganic particles are removed to purify the water.
Chlorine disinfection or chlorination are two chemical processes for water purification for disinfection. It is very useful to destroy the germs that infect the water. The best example of chlorination is when it is used in pools. Consumption of chlorine with water is beneficial than chlorine taken in its original form.
When cholera was epidemic in 1879 in London, then chlorinated water was used. The chlorine of lime helped in bringing the solution for the plague, which had everyone at that time. As it had a number of outbreaks and causalities, permanent water chlorination was implemented all over the United Kingdom.
Now in modern times, the age of slow sand filters has ended and are replaced by modern-day water purifiers. These purifiers are much more advanced in technology and give 100% pure drinking water. These purifiers are loaded with the state of the art technology of different type in each model and make which boast of providing us the best and purest form of drinking water.
There are filters which boast of even filtering radioactive particles from the water. So it has been proven that to lead a healthy and disease-free life we all need to have a water purification system in our homes.
