If you live in an urban area, nearly every drop of water you drink has undergone some process of purification.  Even in suburban and rural areas, many households make use of purification systems in order to ensure the quality of their water.  These days, raw potable water is hard to come by, due mainly to urbanization of many land areas.  This often leads to overuse and contamination, which makes it necessary for water to undergo purification in order to make it safe for use.

What is water purification?

Water purification is simply the process of treating raw water to remove any contaminants it may contain.  Although water purification is used for a variety of applications including medical, pharmacological and industrial, its most common goal is to produce water for safe human consumption.

Depending on the process and equipment used, water purification can ensure the removal of certain contaminants, such as:

- sand and other organic materials

- bacteria, viruses and fungi

- parasites

- toxic materials such as lead, chromium and copper

- mineral particles such as silica, calcium and magnesium

What are the advantages of water purification?

Water purification is used to produce better quality water, one that is safe to use and ingest.  Many of the particulates and contaminants found in raw water are harmful to health. 

Fungi and microorganisms such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia, for example, are known to be harmful to the human body and can cause certain illnesses.  Heavy metals can also produce hazardous effects over time. 

Water purification is also the preferred method to remove unwanted taste, smell and appearance. 

Are there any disadvantages to water purification?

There are certain disadvantages to water purification.  It can, for example, strip water of its natural minerals, many of which are beneficial to the human body.  Since it is a process that is used on a regular basis, users of water purification systems also incur cost over time through purchase of equipment and accessories.

What are the most common processes used for water purification?

There are several methods used to purify water but they can be classified as physical or chemical methods. 

Physical methods

Some of the earliest methods of water purification involved boiling (to kill bacteria and other harmful microorganisms), screening (to filter debris such as leaves, small branches and other materials) and storage.  Storing water in reservoirs or containers encourages biological purification naturally.

Another process of water purification which involves physical removal of contaminants is flocculation.  This involves stirring of the water to encourage precipitation, which then collects small particles that form into bigger particles.  These are then collected to clarify the water.

A very common process of water purification is filtration.  This is the system often found in many of the water purification devices used today.  Water is usually allowed to pass vertically through filters of different sizes – from the biggest to the finest – in order to collect contaminants. 

Most household filtration systems use gravity to pull water through a filter while industrial filters use pressure.

Chemical methods

Chemical methods are employed mainly where physical methods are unavailable or ineffective.  Bigger filters, for example, may not be efficient in removing certain viruses, protozoa and bacteria.  To prevent these organisms from doing harm, chemicals are used to kill them and disinfect the water.

Some of the most common chemicals used for this type of water purification are chlorine and chlorine dioxide.  The only drawback is that there have been complaints regarding the effect to health that these chemicals may have. 

Other chemically-induced water purification methods use ozone and ultraviolet light (UV).  Ozone is a very powerful method of oxidizing water and killing many waterborne organisms.  The UV light method uses lamps to sanitize water and make it safe to drink.

water filtration Water Purification

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 1:22 am and is filed under Water Purification. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.