The Obstacles Faced With Electrolytic Water Treatments

The public awareness as to the major safety of the drinking water has brought about new methods of treating the water. Each method has had a different reaction from the public about its use. The older methods of water treatment such as boiling the water, is not widely used in the American household. It does not mean that the boiling method is not effective for providing water that is free from microorganisms that can cause cholera, diarrhea, and other such gastro-intestinal diseases.

The lightening fast changes in the ordinary lifestyle and the living environments that have become fast in pace, give new obstacles to the forward movement of water treatment technology. The more expensive water technologies have been shown to be very safe and work very well. Some of the new technologies are becoming the more popular ones with consumers and others are not fairing so well in the marketplace as either good or bad.

Electrolytic water treatment is less popular treatment and did not get the respect of the chemists and physics experts. Public opinion is not moving toward the decision as to whether it is a good or bad method for treating.

Electrolytic water treatment is said to be able to break down the molecules of water by using an electrical current. Water that is ionized by electrolytic treatments is supposed to be safe for drinking. The idea that this is a correct assumption has been challenged by a former member of the Department of Chemistry faculty at Simon Frasier University in Vancouver, Canada. This particular faculty member argued the fact that water that is ionized does well only for marketing and sales of the product. It is also thought that safe drinking water is not able to hold an electric charge which seems to make the electrolytic treatment a waste of time.

There are many other ideas that go along with the ionized water theory and the health benefits that may come from it. These ideas are not supported by scientific research or data. The equipment that is used for this treatment process is not worth anything and does absolutely nothing for getting rid of any bacteria, problems, or scale deposits in the water.

Even though the negative feelings exist for this particular water treatment method, there are many companies that are out there making sales on the product. The rise in those sales will continue to climb because of the many people that believe in what the companies advertise the product to be able to do in treating the scale deposits, microorganisms, and the impure water compounds.

This particular type of water treatment is going to face more challenging problems while trying to prove wrong, those that oppose its use. The ones that created this technology are the ones with the burden for providing scientific facts to support the product claims. If they can not accomplish this, then they will have worked for absolutely nothing. Electrolytic treatment for water will not be an acceptable practice until the proof comes along with it.

Cooling Water Treatment - The Potential Problems

Corrosion

Corrosion is one of the major problems encountered in cooling water treatment. Many cooling systems are made from ferrous metal components and two basic problems can result if corrosion is not controlled:

a) Failure of equipment resulting in unscheduled downtime, loss of production and cost of replacements;
b) Decrease in plant efficiency due to deposition of corrosion products in heat exchangers resulting in a loss of heat transfer.

The corrosive potential of a system can be predicted from water analyses and the Langelier or Ryznar indices; empirical tools for predicting scale and corrosive tendencies of natural waters based on their chemical analyses and the thermodynamic constants for CO2/H2O/CaCO3 system. A calculation is made of the theoretical pH (pHs) at which a particular water is just in equilibrium with calcium carbonate. Predictions are then made based on the actual water pHa.

(pHs = (pK2 - pKs) + pCa2 + pAlk )

Langelier Index = pHa - pHs if positive this indicates scale forming, if negative then corrosive.

Ryznar Index = 2pHs - pHa

• 4 - 5 Heavy scale
• 5 - 6 Slight scale
• 6 - 7 Scale / Corrosion
• 7 - 7.5 Corrosive
• 7.5 - 9 Highly corrosive

Protection from corrosion can be achieved either by changing the metal or the environment. Changing the metal is expensive and may not always be successful. Changing the environment is a widely used, practical method to control corrosion. In cooling systems two practical approaches may be adopted:

a) Use the natural calcium and alkalinity in the water to form a protective calcium carbonate layer on the surface;
b) Add corrosion inhibitors.

Neither approach is exclusive and the choice of treatment will be based on an analysis of system requirements and corrosion control required. Most systems today operate at what is called "natural pH". This is the pH to which the system rises at the operating concentration factor and is usually in the rage 8 to 9. This can lead to reduced corrosion rates but there may be still the need for additional corrosion inhibitor to achieve satisfactory corrosion rates

Scale Formation

The most widely occurring scale forming chemical is calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Other common scale forming chemicals are calcium sulphate (CaSO4) and calcium phosphate (Ca3(PO4)2. These and other less common chemicals that can form scales such as iron oxides, silica (and silicates) have one property in common - they are either only very slightly soluble or exhibit inverse solubility characteristics, i.e. they become less soluble with rising water temperature.

Scale formation reduces the ability of the metal to conduct heat effectively and leads to a reduction in the efficiency of the system.

Scale control can be achieved in three ways:

1. by operating the system in a non scaling way ( Langelier / Ryznar help define this);
2. by removing some or all the calcium using a water softener;
3. by modifying the precipitation of the scale with inhibitors so that it is non-scale forming.

Again these approaches are not mutually exclusive and treatment is often a combination of all three

Microbial Fouling

The water in a cooling water treatment system provides a favourable environment for the growth of micro-organisms. Microbial growth on surfaces can lead to the development of biofilms. If uncontrolled, such films can cause fouling which can:

• reduce the performance of equipment;
• promote scale formation and metal corrosion;
• create a reservoir of unwanted organisms such as legionella.

Microbial control is most often achieved by the addition of oxidising biocides (either chlorine or bromine) as the prime biocidal treatment that may be complemented by speciality organic biocides and biodispersants.

Deposition Fouling Problems

Deposition, as compared to scale formation, occurs when insoluble particulates in the circulating water adhere to surfaces. Deposition can be a particular problem when flow velocities are low or there are dead ends. Particulate deposition can be the precursor for scale, corrosion and biofilm formation.

Most particulates, such as clay or silt, enter a system with the make-up water. Other sources are through airborne contamination being scrubbed out in the tower (corrosion products from internal corrosion) aluminum and iron hydroxides can enter a system from poorly operated pre-treatment plant.

Deposition Control is achieved by:

• reducing particulates in the make-up water through filtration or sedimentation processes;
• maintaining water velocities to avoid settling;
• ensuring the absence of "dead ends";
• adding dispersants (chemicals which adsorb on particle surfaces and help maintain them in suspension) as part of the cooling water treatment programme.

Legionnaires Disease

In the UK, the operation of evaporative cooling systems is regulated by government guidelines designed to prevent these systems becoming sources for the spread of legionella bacteria to the population. The guidelines indicate that:

• the problems described above have to be controlled adequately;
• the system has to be correctly maintained (in particular to avoid the formation of aerosols) and monitored to ensure control is adequate;
• regular cleaning and disinfection are an integral part of system operation.

Adherence to the guidelines will ensure that system operation will not lead to problems with legionella.

Why Water Treatment is So Important to Your Health

The water is a simple chemical compound, but with complex properties because of its bias. The chemical formula of water is H2O. That is, each water molecule consists of one oxygen atom between two hydrogen atoms. Water is indispensable for human health and well-being; there can be no life on Earth without water. In fact, the human body is composed of 70% water. However, that same water can do harm to your body if not purified. Unfiltered water contains chlorine, fluoride, dioxins, parasites, etc. those could be hazardous to your health.

Why water treatment is so important?

The water is found almost everywhere on Earth. Water resources like rivers, lakes, which provide water contain a lot of pollution, garbage unfit for consumption. To be clean, the water should undergo a number of treatments necessary to make it drinkable. Water purifiers designed to eliminate or reduce certain pollutants (nitrates, pesticides, heavy metals, organic materials...), as well as improve the quality taste of water (eliminating chlorine).

If you are like one of most people out there, you may say "I have been drinking unfiltered water for years, I never am sick". Some diseases take time to present visible signs, but it does not mean they are inactive in your organism. WHO list a list of WATERBORNE DISEASES that kill people all over the world: diarrheal disease, Hepatitis A, Cholera, Botulism, Typhoid, Dysentery, Cryptosporidiosis, Polio, etc. those diseases can be caused by protozoa, viruses, bacteria, and intestinal parasites

Below, are three main techniques of water treatment used in the United State:

Distillation - distillation is the process of heating the water until it boils, capturing and cooling the resultant hot vapors, and collecting the condensed vapors. The impurities will "accompany" the steam and end up in distillate. This method is not new; mankind has been applying distillation for thousands of years. Not all modern distillation equipments are the same. If you are interested in treating your water by distillation, you should choose good or advanced water purifiers for better result. The problem with the method of distillation is kind of slow comparably to reverse osmosis and UV water treatment method.

Reverse Osmosis - The tap water passes through a semi-permeable membrane that ranges from 90 to 99% of components originally present. This practice originally designed for industrial uses is becoming very popular today in domestic water purification. In practice, a portion of the water allows the rejection of impurities selected initially by the membrane, polyamide TFC. Very powerful, it is nevertheless sensitive to chlorine and must be protected with active carbon filters. Its life is about 5 to 8 years under normal conditions of use. This principle is also quite slow and requires a substantial pressure.

UV water purification - UV water purification technology is probably the most cost-effective and most efficient on the market today. It allows homeowners and business owners to remove a range of biological contaminants in their water supply. The UV water treatment offers many advantages over other forms of water treatment for microbiological contaminants. Most importantly, it leaves no chemical in water, it produces no by-product, and it does not change the taste, pH, or other properties of water. Consequently, in addition to producing safe drinking water, it is not harmful to your plumbing and septic system.

The UV treatment is an excellent choice for eliminating biological contamination of most waters. If your home or business requires an additional filtration or if you have a source of private untreated water (rainwater, lake water, wells etc.). The unique objective of UV water treatment system is to kill harmful biological contaminants.

In any method (reverse osmosis, UV water treatment, distillation), it is imperative to change the filters regularly. Poorly maintained, activated carbon filters may prove ineffective. Worse, they can suddenly reject the impurities previously removed from the water.

We, at vital food store, offer you and your family a quality of water that nature has provided to only a select few. By using natural purification processes in combination with advanced technology, our water treatment systems produce what many believe is the best drinking water on Earth. Visit our reverse osmosis systems website.

Comparing the Application of Biological and Chemical Water Treatment Plants

Developing a method to meet local wastewater disposal guidelines poses a unique set of challenges to each industry. Adequate treatment is necessary to prevent contamination of receiving waters but overtreatment is prohibitively expensive. It is important to note that when industries disposal of wastewater, the goal is not to create drinkable water but rather water that will not damage the surrounding environment. Depending upon the industry, biological, chemical, or combination water treatment plants may be the most effective option.

Chemical treatment plants are primarily used by the steel and metal industry, electronics industry, and other industries which have to deal with inorganic chemicals. The target pollutants of a chemical plant are metallic matter and other objects which alter the pH level of the wastewater. Depending upon the chemicals used in the treatment efficiency can have a large range. Since the target is metallic matter, the treatment efficiency is typically around 90 percent to 95 percent.

The benefit of using a chemical water plant is it requires much less space than a biological plant. Additionally, the initial installation and operation of the plant is relatively easy. As a result, it doesn't need to be professionally managed by a third party. The chemicals typically used in a water treatment plant include sodium hydroxide, aluminum sulfate, polymer coagulant, and sulfuric acid.

Biological water plants are primarily used by processing related industries. This includes the dying/textile industry, for/leather industry, food processing, paper industry, and domestic wastewater municipalities. The target pollutants biological water plants address are high polluted organic matters. This includes organics, inorganic matter, suspended solids, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus.

There are several benefits of operating a biological water plant. The most notable benefit is the high treatment efficiency. Compared to chemical water plants, biological treatment is much more effective across the board. Additionally, chemical treatment phases can be added, altered, or eliminated depending on the type and property of the wastewater. This level of flexibility makes it easy for local municipalities and corporations to modify their water plants to generate the cleanest wastewater possible.

Regardless of the type of wastewater treatment process utilize, there are normally 4 to 6 stages of treatment the water will go through before it is released. While these stages will vary based upon the type of plant and the treatment effectiveness goals, each stage offers a unique capability which is essential to the overall treatment process.

What Makes the Best Water Treatment System - Distillation, Reverse Osmosis, Activated Carbon?

I am sure you have gone through hard time in choosing the right water treatment system. Some are just not even "apple to apple" kind of comparison due to its different nature and functions, some are totally different mythology, some just do not produce the similar outcome. In order to do that, the best comparison is to compare the end result which is the "Filtered Water" or the "Purified Water". To understand which water treatment system provide the best water filtration, we will need to understand what a system does and does not perform. We are discussing only the water treatment after water has been supplied to by the water work department.

Distillation

This is not equivalent to boiling water where molecules of water did not leave the original container and stay with whatever other molecules originally there. In distillation, water is being heaten up to its boiling point continuously, the evaporate water molecules will be recaptured by cooling down the steam vapor and collect in another clean container. Both method remove bacteria effectively, but distillation remove traces of minerals like iron, calcium, etc (which obviously has higher boiling point) etc by evaporate into air first. However, contaminants having lower boiling point than water like benzene will not be able to screen out.

Advantage:- Effectively remove bacteria and heavy metals.

Disadvantage:- Also remove trace of natural minerals in water and almost everything else other than water.

Reverse Osmosis

We will need to understand what is Osmosis process, where molecules of water migrate naturally from a weaker saline solution to a stronger saline solution, gradually equalizing the saline composition of each solution which is divided by a semi-permeable membrane. Reverse Osmosis, the opposite of natural osmosis process of water in which the molecules of water are being pressurized to go through a semi-permeable membrane from stronger saline solution to weaker side ( any contaminants having molecule size bigger than water will not pass through).

Advantage:- Remove fluoride, chloride and other harmful particles.

Disadvantage:- Also remove trace of minerals like salt, lead, manganese, iron, and calcium. Can not remove chlorine and volatile organic chemicals which are relatively smaller in size. Having to remove alkaline mineral constituents of water, produces acidic water which will strip off calcium in bones and teeth in order to neutralize acidtiy in it.

Water Filter

By the name it means involvement of some filtration medium, physically intercept selected particles from passing through, or chemically transform selected molecule into other form, or even using the combination of both.

Ceramic filter

Ceramic water filters come as a cartridge that fits a normal bench top filter. Some ceramic filters incorporate nano-silver impregnated into a porous ceramic outer shell that can trap bacteria down to as low as .22 of a micron in particle size [1/100,000 of an inch].

Laboratories consider a filtering medium with an effective pore size of .01 micron to .45 micron to be bacteriologically sterile and .45 micron to 1.0 micron to be bacteriologically safe. Re growth of bacteria that becomes trapped either on the outside of the element or in the ceramic's pores is controlled by the silver which, on contact with water, releases small quantities of positively charged metals ions.

However, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), chlorine and other undesirable odor and taste compounds, will remain in the treated water after ceramic filtering.

These ions are taken into the enzyme system of the bacteria's cell and thereby neutralize it.

Advantage: Effectively remove bacteria

Disadvantage: Flow rate of ceramic water filters are slow. However, the flow rate of the ceramic filter can be improvised by brushing its outer surface under running water. As the top layer of ceramic and contaminants are brushed off and flushed away, a new layer becomes available.

Charcoal Filter

Charcoal water filter derived from coconut husk . This absorbs impurities as the water passes through. This form of filter comprises possibly 95% of those in use domestically. They are simple to install, relatively economical, and depending on micron level, will filter out the most deadly of contaminants, Cryptosporidium and Guardia.Some charcoal filters are enhanced by the use of activated nano-silver, which provides extra antibacterial protection, killing around 650 known types of organisms.

Advantage: Effectively remove most contaminants by absorbing impurities and economical. Minerals in solution can still permeate a charcoal filter. These minerals are essential to health.

Disadvantage: Need to be replaced at the interval of 9 - 12 months (but its cheap and safe). In area where sediment is a problem, the filter will get clogged easily. Installing a pre filter will prolong its life span.

Pre Filter

In area where sludge and large solid particles are a problem, pre filter is the solution. It is usually a membrane that block large sediments or particles from passing through and thus prolong the water treatment system.

Advantage: Filter all the large particles and sediments, the water will appear clean and clear from human eyes. Prolong the life span of main water treatment system, and it's more economical to install one. It is comparatively much cheaper than the main unit and most of it is cleanable (which make it more lasting).

Disadvantage: Always need to be cleaned when the flow of water is slow, only remove large particles, not chlorine, bacteria and other contaminants. Will need to be replaced regularly.

So what make the best water treatment system?

In conclusion, there is no one filter that can be called as the best water treatment system. Every filter will have the goods and bads, lets put the cost factor aside as I had mentioned in my other articles; cost come later after you compare the effectiveness of water treatment system.

Has this ever come across your mind; if one filter can not be the best water treatment system, why not have a combination of all?

Multi-Stage Water Filtration System!

The best water treatment system is to make use of all the advantages of the filters or filtration system, to compensate the shortfall of others. A multi-stage water filtration system will remove the sediments, large particles, contaminants, bacteria, toxins, chlorine and odors, but leaving the trace of minerals, which is vital to our body fluids.

I can not stress enough the importance when come to choosing the right water purification system, effectiveness in removing all the unwanted contaminants as the main purpose of having a water filtration system, but leaving the good minerals in the water as the nature intended it to be.

When come to cost factor, the main concern will be that you are paying for the reliability (research & development) of the system, instead of contributing to unnecessary advertising and promotion for the branding exercise. Another cost factor to consider is the replacement cartridges pricing and availability of it. No point having a cheap main system, but the replacement cost of ct ridges that will burn a hole in your pocket. Some water filter replacement parts are easily available, some are not and might have even ceased production.

I wish you and your family in best of health, especially the young ones who need healthy water to grow and excel in life.

The Need For Water Treatment

You may or may not realize it but, water needs to be cleaned and washed. There is a name for washing the water. It is called water treatment.

Water treatment is the process that water goes through so that it can be of better quality to be used. It is made to be safer for humans to drink and for industries to use with a small to none environmental problem.

The water treatment method will vary greatly. This article will inform you of two of the major kinds of water treatment. They are water purification and treatment of sewage.

Purification Of Water

The whole point behind purifying water is that this water treatment method cleans out any contaminants in the water. The water that comes from this process is clean and safe enough for you to drink and for using in industry.

What Kind Of Contaminants Are In The Water?

You will find contaminants ranging from chemicals, parasites, and bacteria's in water. There are also many others including algae, bacteria, Viruses, fungus, Gardia, lead, copper, Cryptosporidium.

Each of these different substances can cause ill effects for human health. Some of the contaminants in water are hazardous to your health. When these substances are taken out of the water by the use of water treatment methods of purification, the water will improve in taste, smell, and color.

Treating Sewage

Sewage treatment is another type of treatment for water. The whole point behind treating sewage is not to clean the water to drink but, to clean the nasty waste from it so that it can be sent back into the environment for use again. Sewage treatments clean the sewage not the water in it.

Sewage is the result of waste that is discharged from homes, businesses, and industrial buildings and institutions. The sewage is filled with toxic substances that are dangerous to humans and the environment. Water treatment methods make the sewage clean enough to go back into the environment again.

How Do They Treat Sewage?

Treating sewage is a three step process. The processes are the primary, secondary, and tertiary treatments. The primary stage is responsible for separating the solid waste from the stream of water by mechanical means to include the use of pre-precipitation and influx. The next thing that happens is the water borne bacteria that is common to the sewage is changed the dissolved substances into a solid waste product. The secondary stage provides the water with oxidation, post precipitation, and effluent. The tertiary stage takes these solids and neutralizes them. The solids are ready to be sent to the environment and will not cause any problems.

Sewage that has the water treatment process completed is then sent to a stream, river, lagoon, or wetland. They are also sent to golf courses, greenways, or parks to irrigate the soil. If the water appears to be clean enough, the water can be used to refill the groundwater.

Water Treatment For Domestic Use

Each household in the United States will consume over a hundred liters each and every day. A household chore, as well as, maintaining the human life, is directly linked to water. Treatment of the water that is used in domestic situations is vitally important for ensuring the health and safety of all who are drinking it. The water needs to be free from anything that can cause it to adversely affect the activities it is needed for.

Bacteria, Viruses, And Parasites In The Water
There are so many different things in the water that can cause it to affect ones health and safety. Microorganisms can cause problems like diarrhea, dysentery, and cholera. The way to get rid of these harmful substances from the water is by providing the home with a quality water treatment system.

Boiling water has been one of the best and oldest ways to treat water to make it safe. It is thought of as a water treatment method. When water is boiled, it kills the harmful items that are found in the drinking water of you and me. It is thought to be the fastest and easiest way to clean and treat the water we use for drinking.

Using a mechanical water purifier is also an effective domestic drinking water treatment. This particular treatment is a slightly more expensive way to treat water than the boiling method but, it is faster. the water that you will get from a water purifier is already safe for drinking and it is available to you any time of the day or night as ling as the purifier is on and working properly.

Distillation of water is also and old water treatment method. It is more time consuming and will take up more time than that of the other treatments. Water is brought to a boiling temperature and produces steam. The steam is then taken and put into other containers so that it may cool down or become condensed. There are not many households that prefer and use this method of water treatment. It is one of the more effective ways of cleaning the water. It is somewhat more expensive because of the special equipment that will be needed to complete this water treatment process.

Iron And Copper In The Water

Iron and copper are among some of the many metals that can be present in the water. If the water that is coming out of the faucet has a reddish tint, you can bet it has iron in it. If the water has a blue tint to it or stains the sink or pipe opening blue, you can safely assume the water is full of copper. These accumulated elements will each cause staining of the sink and will be noticeable.

Water treatments for domestic use are so important to make sure that the water is clean and free of these unwanted elements. Not only can your sink become stained but, the clothing that you wash will become tinged with a red or blue tint. These elements are also known to clog pipes if the water is not treated immediately.

Chlorine is a good element for the removal of the copper and iron in the drinking water. Adding chlorination to the water will help to remove microorganisms and also remove unwanted elements that can deposit itself in the water and pipes.

Even though there are great advancements in technology and new inventions for water treatment, the basic treatments are still some of the best to use. Not only are they easier but, they are also cheaper.

A Guide to Drinking Water Treatment Systems - 4 Different Ways of Filtering Polluted Water

Many are confused about all the drinking water treatment systems available today. In this article I will go through four different ways that you can filter polluted and contaminated water.

It is easy to believe that we are drinking clean and safe tap water, but many research institutes and even the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have confirmed that there are thousands of harmful substances and chemicals in our tap water.

These chemicals have been proven to cause an anything from headaches to serious diseases like cancer. Home water filters are becoming more and more popular. The main reason is because people are becoming aware of the dangers of consuming water straight from the tap.

With all that said, here are four different ways that you can start filtering and ensuring that you're only getting the purest water.

#1 -- Distillation

Distillation is when you turn water into vapor and then into water again, removing all the harmful substances and minerals. This is good for a short amount of time.

Researchers and doctors do not recommend using distillation for longer than a few weeks to a month. The reason is because I distillation system removes the minerals, which are extremely important for human health.

#2 -- Reverse Osmosis

Reverse osmosis was originally made to clean water in submarines. The way reverse osmosis works is that it puts water through all very small filter.

The only problem with reverse osmosis filters is that it also removes a lot of the minerals, and has trouble removing some of the smallest bacteria, viruses, micro organisms and chemicals.

It is a system that works well, but not the best out there. However, if you only have access to reverse osmosis system, it is better than none at all.

#3 -- Ultra Violet

Ultra violet drinking water treatment systems are usually used in third world countries, where they are more concerned about serious and harmful disease happening from consuming water.

It is excellent at sterilizing water, but the system does not remove chemicals and does not guarantee safety every single time. There are many drinking water treatment systems that are better than the ultra violet option.

#4 -- Dual-Filtration

In my years of researching drinking water treatment systems, I have found that the mix of different filtering processes is the best way to go.

A dual-filtration process that uses activated carbon, ion exchange and sub-micron filtering produces extremely clean water and removes up to 99% of all chemicals, bacteria, viruses and so on.

By doing your research and comparing different drinking water treatment systems, will start to realize how they work and which one is worth your money.

Residential Water Treatment - Reverse Osmosis

What is Reverse Osmosis & how does it work?

Reverse osmosis is a procedure of water distillation that has been used primarily for the desalination of seawater. To comprehend the RO process, it is first necessary to understand osmosis. The term for the fact, if a semi-permeable membrane separates two salt solutions of different concentration, the water will migrate from the weaker solution through the membrane to the stronger solution, until the solutions are of the identical salt concentration.

Reverse osmosis challenges this process. It involves applying pressure to reverse the natural flow of water, forcing the water to move from the more concentrated solution to the weaker solution. The semi-permeable membrane is porous, allowing water to pass through, but blocking the passage of the bulkier salt molecules. The conclusion is water without salt on one side of the membrane. This technique has been used as a method of purification for ground and surface fresh water, in addition to its role as a desalinating agent.

Working with such water sources creates some problems for the reverse osmosis system, because of the very small pore sizes involved in the membrane, it is vital that ground and surface water is adequately pre-treated prior to the process. Depending upon the hardness of the water involved, scaling of the membrane is likely to occur. If the concentration of the calcium or magnesium in the water (the chemicals that determine water's hardness) is at a high enough level where the chemicals are insoluble, it will create a hard mineral on the inside of the membrane, rendering it impotent

Pros of RO

1- It is extremely helpful in desalinization of water.

2- The method helps provide mineral free water for usage in photo printing industry.

3- It is also efficient in providing pathogen-free water.

4- It is highly recommended process for the areas where municipally treated water is not available and is an ideal water cleaning process for contaminants removal.

5- RO does not require and electricity. It saves from increase electricity bills.

Cons of RO

The reverse osmosis process contains several downsides which make it an incompetent and unproductive means of cleaning drinking water.

1- Some chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides and chlorine are relatively smaller than water and these chemicals can easily pass through the reverse osmosis is unable to clean water porous membrane.

2- Reverse osmosis as a method of purifying drinking water removes all the natural healthy minerals present in water.

3- The reverse osmosis processed water is natural mineral resistant. These minerals are essential for our body function. Water, when stripped of these trace minerals, can actually be unhealthy for the body.

4- Reverse Osmosis also wastes a large portion of the water that runs through its system. It generally wastes 2 to 3 gallons of water for every gallon of purified water produced through reverse osmosis.

5- It is an extremely slow procedure to purify water as compared to other water treatment alternatives.

6- This process requires pre and post carbon filters.

The Ins and Outs of Drinking Water Treatment Systems

For great water purification within your home it is essential that you install a drinking water treatment system. There are many systems available that are effective in the purification process providing us with high quality water.

Information about drinking water treatment systems and being able to identify the right system for you can be a daunting prospect. Technology advances have bought about systems that clean water using methods such as ultraviolet light and reverse osmosis.

To make things easier in the decision making process I have chosen to outline a variety of treatment methods.

Distillation:

Distillation treats contaminated water using the heat of the sun. The water is contained in clear glass or plastic containers, which causes water to evaporate. This evaporated water should be free of bacteria and therefore healthy and safe to drink. Drinking water treatment systems such as this can end up quite costly.

Chemical treatments:

Treating water with chemicals is a successful way of removing bacteria that can cause serious illness and disease. Some of these chemical treatments include-

o Chlorine
o Iodine
o Peroxide

Although these chemicals are effective as a form of treatment, they can leave the purified water with an odd chemical taste and need to be replaced and updated on a regular basis.

Ultraviolet treatments:

Shining extreme ultraviolet light into water has proven to be efficient at removing bacteria from water. The light kills germs and bacteria to provide fresh drinking water.

Using ultraviolet light draws a high-energy usage, which will increase costs. If the water contains heavy sediments it may also be less effective than other forms of drinking water treatment systems.

Reverse osmosis:

The process of reverse osmosis involves forcing the water through the tiniest of holes in order to eliminate organisms, pesticides and pollutants such as chlorine, arsenic and lead.

Reverse osmosis does have disadvantages, which include the following -
o High cost involved
o Uses large quantities of water to produce smaller quantities of clean water
o Removes essential minerals such as magnesium and calcium

Magnesium and calcium are essential for growth and development in children and it is imperative that these nutrients remain in our drinking water.

Drinking plain tap water is no longer a safe option for many households. Companies that specialise in the creation of drinking water treatment systems can provide more advice pertinent to your situation and needs in regards to obtaining the perfect system for you.

Water Treatment - A Step Forward Towards Safe Drinking

Water treatment is a process of improving the quality of water by purifying it to make it suitable for consumption and utilization so that it will not pose any health disease. Since water is a basic need of a human so it is very much essential to have proper intake of it by taking efficient measures to make water more acceptable. All this can be done by adapting the method of water treatment so that you are far from health disease and live a healthy life.

It is always beneficial to adapt safe drinking water act. Water treatment applies to industrial plants, drinking water process, medical treatment, building operations related to the closed heating and cooling systems, chillers that is an open cooling tower systems, steam systems, domestic water supplies, swimming pools and many more. It can be done by using chemicals or by adopting a lot of techniques. In technical terms when water is evaporated, the solids are left behind and the numbers of times the solids are concentrated by evaporation are the cycles of concentration. It is a physical process known as settling and filtration, also it can be done by using chemical processes such as disinfection and coagulation. Biological processes may include aerated lagoons, activated sludge or slow sand filters. All these processes can be used to improve the quality of water for human consumption and many other applications.

The goal of all these water treatment process is to remove existing contaminants in the water, or reduce the concentration of such contaminants so that the water becomes fit for its desired end use. At last, the water is potable, palatable, and ready for consumption and that water is moved into tank for storage through pumps. The water is then flows down into the society.

Hence, water treatment is very important to make available water of desirable quality at the customer end that leads to better health protection by distribution of the treated water after treatment.

Compare Water Treatment Systems - Not All Purification Devices Are Equal

With the growing concern about living a greener, healthier life, there are several popular styles of water filtration and purification systems currently available. In fact, the market has become so overwhelmed with products that you really need to compare water treatment systems. Only sometimes it can be difficult to know which option best suits you and your family's needs. Every type of water treatment device has its pros and cons.

The first process we will look at is Reverse osmosis. It was developed as a water treatment method over 40 years ago and was originally designed for desalinating seawater. During the reverse osmosis water filtration process the water is pressurized and then forced through a semi-permeable membrane.

When you compare water treatment systems, reverse osmosis is effective when mineral-free water is the desired end product. However, most minerals contained in water are physically larger than water molecules. Thus, they are trapped by the semi-permeable membrane and removed from drinking water during the reverse osmosis process. Such minerals include salt, lead, manganese, iron, and calcium. The good things is reverse osmosis will remove chemical components of drinking water, including the harmful additive fluoride. But it does also take away some of the good minerals that we need in water.

The next water filtration process we shall explore is called distillation. The distillation process utilizes a heat source to vaporize water. The object of distillation is to separate pure water molecules from contaminants with a higher boiling point than water.

When you compare the distillation process to reverse osmosis, you'll find it provides mineral-free water that's used in science laboratories or for printing purposes. The positive side for home water filtration is that it removes heavy metal materials like lead, arsenic, and mercury from water and hardening agents like calcium and phosphorous. Also, distillation provides mineral-free water that can be quite dangerous to the body's system when ingested because of its acidity. Such drinking water can zap your bones and teeth of beneficial minerals.

Most recently the water filtration market has seen devices that use a combination of methods to provide clean water. It's pretty eye opening when you compare most water treatment systems to Activated Carbon (AC) filters. Carbon Block and Granular Carbon Filters are the most common varieties of countertop and under-the-sink devices. Granular carbon filters and carbon block systems rely on highly intricate methods of toxic contaminant removal. Water treatment systems with activated carbon mechanisms can give you more of an advantage over a standard filtration device.

Another interesting aspect you will find when comparing filers is what Activated Carbon systems can do. AC filters are recognized by the EPA as the best available technology for filtering something called VOCs and THMs, which are some to the most hazardous culprits that you will find in drinking water.

Multi-media block filters employ the benefits of activated carbon with several added advantages. What happens is a blended media is compressed into a solid form to filter out sediment and cysts. Moreover, this setup also prevents water from channeling around the filter mechanism.

In the end, when you compare water treatment systems, you need to get what works best to filter out a wide range of elements. In most cases, the best performing systems include a multi-level process to filter out scores of contaminants.

Understanding The Importance Of Water Treatment

Responsible for more than 40% of diseases all over the world, water contamination and waterborne diseases are a huge problem. We see on television and hear in the news about how bad the water supply is in third world countries, but do we really understand the significance of having clean, treated water? Protecting us from cholera, typhoid and even contaminants like iron, calcium and magnesium, water treatments help give us clean water right out of the tap.

Potable Water

Potable water is defined as being odour-free, safe and disease-free. Ground water, surface water from a reservoir or stream and rainwater are all common sources, but these aren't always guaranteed to be without contaminants and bacteria. In most urban centres it's the job of local council to ensure water is potable and safe for use.

Industrialization commonly causes contamination of water sources from discharge of toxic waste and other pollutants. Water that is naturally sourced can also contain foreign contaminants from soils, clays and heavy metals. Without a proper water treatment system of facilities to ensure that these impurities are removed, waterborne diseases can spread through contaminants quickly and easily.

Treating Water

For individuals trying to treat water in their own household, boiling and filtering is generally enough to get the job done. Water that has been boiled between five and ten minutes should be free from all bacteria as well as calcium and carbon dioxide. Other chemical impurities may find their way through the boiling process and are sometimes difficult to remove without a filter.

Obviously, boiling and filtering on a scale large enough for public consumption is impractical, so instead, commercial water methods often threat this water with commercial chemicals. Bleaching powder can purify water with only 2.3 grams needed for every 1000 litres, while phosphate water treatment works to remove nitrogen contaminants commonly found in ground water from lechate and by reacting with dissolved metals without affecting taste or odour.

While no single treatment is one hundred percent effective, with a range of chemicals and different filtering methods in place, we can purify water so that it is completely potable and free from diseases and contaminants. Understanding the effects of untreated water can really help us appreciate what it takes to keep our supply clean and us healthy. It's more than just a tank and a tap, creating a usable water source to meet mass demand takes a lot of work and research on the latest and most effective treatment methods.

Drinking Water Treatment Systems - Instant Impact on Harmful Contaminants

Let's face it. The need for drinking water treatment systems has become a sobering fact of everyday life. With over 2100 toxic chemicals reported* to be in U.S. drinking water, it's critical that a drinking water purification system be capable of having an instant impact on these harmful contaminants.

But you should know that quality drinking water treatment systems are not just about getting rid of toxins. They are also about restoring water to its original clean, healthy, mineral-balanced state. Nature designed water to be this way so that we could enjoy its taste and benefit from its components. Our good health depends on it.

Reverse osmosis and distillation are popular methods of water purification. However, these drinking water treatment systems have serious drawbacks. Not only do they strip water of essential trace minerals, but they are not effective at removing synthetic organic chemicals (SOCs), such as herbicides and pesticides... unless combined with a carbon filter add-on.

Furthermore, distillation is a very slow process and reverse osmosis creates 2 to 3 gallons of waste water for every 1 gallon of useable water it produces. Both systems can be expensive to install and require ongoing maintenance.

Bottled water is another popular alternative to tap water. But there is no way of knowing what, if any, type of drinking water purification system has been used to produce this water. This is because there are no government regulations that oversee the quality of bottled water. Even the FDA has warned that, "Companies that market bottled water as being safer than tap water are defrauding the American public."

So what can a person do to ensure that their drinking water purification system has an instant impact on harmful contaminants, while leaving in the minerals that are so important for good taste and good health?

You can start by looking at drinking water treatment systems that use a multi-stage filtration process. Multi-stage filtration systems are comprehensive in their approach to water filtration. Not only are they capable of filtering out the odor and bad taste of chlorine, they protect us from lead, harmful bacteria such as cryptosporidium, giardia, as well as, volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) and synthetic organic chemicals (SOCs).

You might think that this type of drinking water purification system - one that offers protection, good taste, and good health - would be expensive and complicated to install in the home. Well, let me assure you that this is definitely not the case. Affordable, easy to install and maintain drinking water treatment systems with multi-stage filters are easy to find, if you're willing to do a little research.

In addition to looking for systems that use multi-stage filtration, you might also want to find systems that are certified for removing specific contaminants such as VOCs and SOCs. This will give you added assurance that you're getting a top quality product.

If you want to have an instant impact on contaminants, as well as, your family's good health, then investigating the best drinking water treatment systems is certainly going to be worth your time and money.

* report by the Ralph Nader Research Institute

Municipal Water Treatment and Filtration of Surface Water

In the early days of its existence, no one had to worry about treating America's waste water. Left to nature, the purification process took place slowly but surely. However, now that the population has grown by leaps and bounds and more contaminants are ending up in the water supply, steps need to be taken in order to speed up nature's cleaning process. The Clean Water Act of 1972 was designed to provide a basis for maintaining the country's most valuable resource, clean H20.

Up until the mid 1900s, the nation's waterways in urban areas were filled with pollutants, but no one was overly concerned about it. Now, however, we not only realize that clean drinking water is a precious commodity but also that it is imperative to maintaining the ecosystems of our world and critical in maintaining national health. Cities, then, have became responsible for taking the steps necessary to treat the waste water generated in their community and ridding it of dangerous pollutants. Municipal water treatment plants were built to take care of the problem of filtering the liquid and making it clean again.

Different types of filtration have been tried with varying amounts of success. Back in 1892, there were only 27 American cities that provided waste water treatment for their citizens. Now we have over 16,000 water treatment facilities spread throughout the country. Filtration starts when waste water enters the treatment plant where it passes through screens of varying densities. Some screens with holes about ½" square remove large debris from the liquid, while screens with finer mesh remove even very small particulates.

Ion-exchange resins are often used in the water purification process. These are made up of insoluble beads with a surface covered with highly-structured pores where ions are easily trapped and released. Ion-exchange resins are used successfully to remove poisons and heavy metals from the liquid. Sometimes the resins are mixed with an activated-charcoal filter in order to remove organic contaminants from water.

The filtration methods used by municipal water treatment plants are complex. After all, waste water can be filled with microorganisms or pathogens that cause human diseases. Therefore, the methods used to clean our primary drinking source are all important in the lives of everyone.

Home Water Treatment Systems - 5 Things You Must Know

Home water treatment systems are plentiful to choose from. But, some of the water treatment products on the market are just a waste of money. Here are 5 things you must know to choose the best home water treatment system.

1. Price

Price may not help you compare water treatment products. Some of the most expensive devices will not remove chlorine or other chemical contaminants that plague our waterways.

But, just as a point of reference, you can get effective whole home water treatment systems for less than a thousand, a kitchen purifier for less than $125 and a showerhead system for less than a hundred.

2. Impurities

What does it take out? What's left behind? That's what you need to look at. As an example, let's look at a product I will call Brand X. (Contact author for actual name).

The under the sink unit costs over three hundred dollars. It removes chlorine, lead and cysts, but it does not remove chlorination byproducts (CBPs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), pesticides, herbicides, benzene, TCE or MTBE.

Water treatment products like this are not providing complete protection. CBPs are more dangerous than chlorine. Exposure to them causes hundreds of new cancer cases per year, per country. TCE and benzene also cause cancer. TCE is one of the most common surface and groundwater contaminants.

You should look for a multi-stage home water treatment systems that remove all of the contaminants mentioned here
.
3. Environmental Concerns

The most expensive water treatment products on the market include a reverse osmosis (RO) step. This creates gallons of unusable wastewater, something that the planet cannot afford. It is possible to purify practically every drop of water that comes through your system.

Both RO and distillation devices require the use of electricity. So, more of our natural resources are wasted, when it is totally unnecessary. Your current water pressure is enough to allow for proper purification.

4. Mineral or Electrolyte Content

Home water treatment systems like RO and distillation remove all of the minerals that are naturally present in our surface and groundwater. Researchers have concluded that we get some of our necessary daily mineral requirements simply by drinking water.
Without proper electrolyte intake, our body cannot maintain its homeostasis. In other words, it won't stay properly hydrated.

5. The Healthiest Choice

Selective filtration devices remove impurities, but not minerals. The best water treatment products removes lead and traces of other metals through a process called ion exchange.

This process catches metallic ions and replaces them with ions of the most important electrolytes; sodium and potassium. So, it actually enhances the electrolyte content and that's the healthiest thing that you can drink.

The step also balances the pH level, so that is neither too acidic nor too alkaline, but just right for the digestive system. In addition, if you have excessive hardness, it can take care of that as well by balancing mineral content.

Only the best home water treatment systems include ion exchange and enough other steps to counter and remove the things that are bad for our health, while providing something that tastes good to drink. Take the time to compare as I did to find the best home water treatment system.

No Biological Water Treatment? You Are You Gambling With Life Itself

100 dead and 40,000 sick in Milwaukee in 1993. If only they had biological waste treatment in their homes, the fatalities and the number of people sick could have been greatly reduced. This is a true store by the way, the result of the 1993 Milwaukee cryptosporidium outbreak that affected the water supplies of people in that location.

This occurrence brought the matter of microbiological contaminants in drinking water in sharp focus. People realized that (a) municipal water treatment systems have their limits and (b) they had better take matters into their own hands and give their families added protection from biological matter in drinking water.

The Problem

There are the so called "super bugs", microorganisms that have become resistant to municipal water treatment processes. Chlorination has helped to curb the occurrence of waterborne illness such as cholera nd typhoid but "super bugs" such as cryptosporidium and giardia are chlorine resistant.

And it is just not these two microorganism that can cause problems. Studies show that eromonas, legionella, pseudomonas and others have increasingly turned up in water supplies across the country.

What is so alarming about this is that of all the other drinking water contaminants, heavy metals, chemicals (organic and inorganic), biological entities are the most dangerous. Ingesting microbiological contaminants via a glass of water can make you sick or kill you real fast. Those survivors of the Milwaukee cryptosporidium outbreak can attest to that

The Solution

The government must play their part in ensuring that systems are in place to minimize a repeat of the Milwaukee outbreak, but wouldn't it be wise to give your family an added layer of protection against microbiological contaminants in their tap water. After all water is life and we ought to be drinking it daily.

This is where home biological water treatment devices come in. A quality unit, can eliminate bacteria in drinking water and give you and your family healthy, safe drinking water.

But herein lies another problem, many households are being sold water treatment systems that are incapable of removing microbiological contaminants from drinking water. They may be getting protection from less dangerous contaminants like sediment and turbidity but the bacteria in tap water remains unchecked.

This is where online research necessary. By doing your homework, you'll find out that Reverse osmosis water filtration systems don't remove bacteria and are therefore not a biological water treatment system.

Activated carbon filters are partial removers of bacteria in tap water but are more suitable from removing chemicals in drinking water.

The two best biological water treatment systems are ultraviolet water purifiers and distillation systems.

What To Do Now.

Scour the internet and find out as much as possible about the best uv filters and distillers. Find out about prices, product certification and the reputation of the seller.

If you put in this initial legwork, you'd be way ahead of those who jumps and buys the first water filter they see.`

The Benefits of Water Treatment Systems

Treatment of water is important in order to optimize water based industrial processes such as heating, cooling, processing, cleaning and rinsing. By doing this, it is possible to make sure that operating costs and risks are reduced. In some cases, effluent water from one process might be perfectly suitable for reuse in another process. By using good water treatment systems, it is possible to make sure that a considerable portion of industrial waste water is utilized for other processes. This would save the firm quite a bit of money and resources too. There are many dealers who sell these systems in the market. However, buyers need to check for the best place to buy an excellent system.

Fortunately, dealers have their own website these days. They give comprehensive details on the type of machinery that they sell and how the equipment is manufactured. One can come to know how CO2 removal systems and Bubble removal systems function. They would learn the intricacies of water degassing applications. Buyers would find out that the turnkey systems range from just a few milliliters per minute to thousands of gallons per minute. The manual has been written in a layman style so that even those with no engineering background can understand the technicalities of the machine.

The firm would build machines that can be operated manually. The manufacturer can also design machines with sophisticated automatic control system. These companies understand the composition of water. They know how water reacts with membrane products. They use their extensive knowledge to design water treatment systems. Their technology has been built keeping in mind the current standards and regulations. These websites often have application forms on them that clients can fill out to specify their needs and requirements. The firm would contact the buyer within a space of twenty four hours after the customer has submitted his request to work on his water treatment systems.

The firms have adequate experience in manufacturing and selling gas removal systems. These systems can be purchased at competitive prices which would not be beyond the budget of even small firms. For ammonia removal systems, the companies have developed a feasibility test procedure that can be custom designed to suit each customer's application. This feasibility test provides the customer preliminary information on waste water interaction with the membrane unit. This is necessary because ammonia removal can be accomplished by membrane technology. However, the difference in waste water differs from one place to another, which results in the membrane units getting fouled.

Industrial water treatment seeks to manage four main problem areas. These are scaling, corrosion, microbiological activity and disposal of residual waste water. Buying such equipment can be quite expensive. However, this equipment can also help the buyer save a considerable amount of money by treating water. This water can be used productively and constructively. That is why companies should spend some time and effort into buying good water treatment systems. Buying these systems is a highly specialized activity since there are many technical aspects involved.

Your Water Treatment Process Facility Does Not Protect You From Drinking Liquefied Contaminants

Although you may not realize it, the municipal water treatment process in your city or town is not doing enough to keep you safe from the contaminants in our drinking water system. I realize that they prepare annual reports to show you just how much they are doing to keep your drinking water safe, but these reports don't tell the whole story. These documents are often doctored to make your water appear safer than it is.

Now, I know that might sound bold to state that these treatment facilities are falsifying reports as to the purity of your water, but the truth is it happens more often than you think. The treatment facilities must keep contamination of the water they process down to a bare minimum, which is something they are ill equipped to do. There have been many cases where false information has been used to make it seem as though a plant were running efficiently.

There is very little oversight of the municipal water treatment process, as the Environmental Protection Agency has few inspectors to go around. This allows more than enough opportunity for reports to be made to look as if everything is on the up and up. The EPA and many environmental working groups know that the level of safety of our drinking water is far below what is often reported.

There have been as many as 80,000 industrial chemicals that have been reported as present in our reservoirs by environmental groups over the years. These chemical agents are toxic to the human system, and more than 2,000 of them are proven to possess carcinogenic properties. The truth is that the treatment facilities are virtually helpless to stop these chemicals from reaching your home.

The water treatment process used by the municipal facilities do little more than the standard swimming pool filter does. The porous filters that are in use at these facilities are designed for demineralization, and not the removal of the liquefied or microscopic contaminants present in our reservoir system. Virtually nothing gets held back by these filters, guaranteeing you one or more chemical or other contaminant in every glass of water.

Think about how safe it makes you feel that the treatment facilities are incapable of removing the substances in your water that could negatively affect your health? You probably don't feel very good about this fact at all, and you have every right to be concerned about how drinking unfiltered tap water is going to affect your health. I have a solution to your problem with contaminants in your drinking water.

Instead of relying on the municipal water treatment process to keep you safe, it is a better idea to implement a treatment process of your own. You can have safe, pure water in your home by simply installing a countertop or under the counter drinking water purification system. Such a system will keep your water as safe as possible, and will improve the odor and taste.

Different Steps In Waste Water Treatment

Waste water undergoes primary, secondary and tertiary treatment before it is reused for any alternative purposes. The black water and the grey water are the two basic classification of waste water. The determining factors in treating are the facilities available and the amount of waste that is targeted to be removed from the waste water. This involves different forms of treatment and purification processes before it can be made available for any alternative uses.

Waste water can be broadly classified into grey water and black water. It signifies the water that is derived from clean sources and that which does not contain human wastes or any other potentially harmful substances that pollutes the environment. It contains mostly that comes from dish washing or laundry cleaning.

Black water as the name signifies contains human waste and cannot be reused without proper processing. When water is gone through different levels of processing it ensures reduction of contaminants and also ensures cleaner. There are 3 effective treatment options and before these purification processes, waste water undergoes a pretreatment process. This process helps in removing larger wastes that has chances to clog the pumps and cause delay in the primary treatment.

Primary treatment is a process where heavy solids that are present in the water to settle down into different layers of removable waste. This treatment ensures heavy wastes getting settled in the bottom and oil, greases and other lighter waste materials floating at the top.

Secondary water treatment is a specialized process that helps in removing the microbial unicellular life or the large amounts of microbes. This process also involves the use of filter beds that helps in the oxidation and purification of water.

Tertiary water treatment involves in treatment to an extent that it can be released to places that has a delicate ecosystem. This clean water can also be recycled into the natural resources and supply once more.

In conclusion, treatment is highly essential because the impurities and the decaying matter, necessarily robs the valuable oxygen from natural water and kills the water based organisms when it is directed unpurified to any water resources.

Getting to Know The Sewage Water Treatment

Having clean drinking water is important to all of us. Without clean water we could get very sick. Thankfully our cities make sure that our water is always clean enough for us to safely drink. One type of water treatment is Dissolved Air Flotation and it is a very interesting process. It essentially uses air to clean the water and it actually does a good job. You would be surprised to find out all of the bacteria that it removes.

Sewage wastewater treatment is a never-ending process for many municipalities and industrial concerns such as paper mills, chemical and natural gas processing plants, oil refineries and other various industrial facilities. This includes several types of wastewater treatment systems designed specifically for oily water treatment, sewage water treatment and the removal of a variety of other solids contaminating water through a wide range of industrial processes.

Until recently, the "go to" technology for solid waste removal from water has been a technique called Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF). This process involves the introduction of high-pressure air into a tank or basin containing wastewater, creating bubbles that act to cause suspended solids to float to the surface where they may then be removed through the use of skimming equipment. In some cases, such as use in the oil industry where DAF poses risk from explosion, Dissolved Gas Flotation, utilizing the introduction of natural gas to create bubbles, is used as an alternative.

Today, the next generation of industrial waste and sewage water treatment, dubbed Suspended Air Flotation (SAF). SAF provides a variety of benefits when compared to conventional DAF, including:

• Equipment size is only one-fifth as large, requiring a much smaller footprint
• Removes more solids and those smaller in size
• More cost-effective
• Turns solids into a jelly-like substance that is more easily removed from the wastewater

The improvements of SAF over DAF are possible primarily through a better and more efficient air delivery system. DAF uses small amounts of air under high pressure to create bubbles. SAF uses large amounts of air at lower pressure, and each bubble created is covered in a chemical film that makes it super-attracted to the solids in the wastewater. DAF relies on inert bubbles physically trapping the solids passively, with no strong bond created. SAF's chemically charged bubbles actively attach themselves to the solids, causing them to quickly rise to the surface and remain floating. Using a lower pressure air delivery system, SAF also requires significantly less energy to operate, adding to its cost-effectiveness. Suspended air flotation implementation in sewage wastewater treatment and oily water treatment has resulted a total success so far.

Water Purification Process Explained - Why You Need to Know

The goal of the water purification process is to take raw water and use a method to purify or clean it. When you are trying to explain water purification, you have to know the purpose the water will be used for. There are many methods and each is suitable for certain applications.

Mostly water is purified for homes, but there are applications like medical, scientific, industrial and commercial. Each has a water purification process that best suits it. Some of the different methods include, in no particular order, ultra violet light filtration, reverse osmosis, deionization and activated carbon treatment. There are many others, as well.

A complete water purification process will remove a whole host of things including algae, suspended particles of organic material, bacteria, viruses, fungi, minerals and metals. The government sets standards as to how many particles may remain and still be safe for human consumption. If you have to know exactly what contaminants are present, you will have to have a sample tested.

The source is sometimes a factor in which water purification process is best. Obviously we can not name them all, but the source could be a river, stream, lake, spring or well. These are only a few. Knowing the source helps experts to identify potential contaminants and choose the right water purification process to get the job done.

It's really pretty complicated, but what follows is a brief attempt to explain water purification.

First it is brought in from the source and stored. Then it is cleaned of big debris, tree limbs, for example. Then, it is preconditioned and pre chlorinated. The ph levels are adjusted to and the water is flocculated. Flocculation means "to make clear".

The water purification process continues with sedimentation, slow moving storage and filtration. To explain water purification, is to look at it as a series of steps, each one cleaning more contaminants than the last.

There are a number of different filtration methods that complete the water purification process. Granulated carbon, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, electro-deionization and direct contact membrane distillation are some of them. The water purification process used by your treatment facility may vary. But, in general, this should explain water purification at the treatment center's end.

In order to pass EPA standards, facilities are required to test for contaminants. The allowable levels are relatively high, many experts feel. The reason is that the standards are based on what would be toxic to a 175 pound adult. So, children could still become ill. Anyone who weighs less than 175 pounds could be in danger. I always worry about my dogs.

In my area, chlorine is used to keep the pipes clean and at certain times of the year, the levels are very high. When our treatment facility tries to explain water purification, they say that the levels are safe and that it is necessary to "flush" the system on a yearly basis, usually in the spring. Whenever this occurs, all three of my dogs develop diarrhea, unless I filter their drinking water.

It has become necessary to consider the treatment facility as only part of a complete water purification process. In the home, we have to do our share to protect ourselves, our families and even our pets. For more information, please see my website listed below. Larry L. Taylor

Whole House Water Treatment Will Save You Money and the Environment at the Same Time

Do you care about the world our children will live in? If you do, then you probably care about clean water and realize how crucial it is to all forms of life. Whole house water treatment is one way to benefit your immediate family and keep trashy plastic bottles out of our landfills at the same time.

Bottled water is one of the biggest sources of pollution in the U.S. Well over 60,000,000 plastic bottles are produced, transported and disposed of every single day in the United States. And, sadly, many of these bottles are purchased by individuals who think they are doing the right thing for their loved ones' health and safety. Think again.

Not only are the bottles wasteful and may contain carcinogenic materials that do not degrade, the water inside is no better than municipal tap water. Indeed most bottled water is taken from city water supplies and just put into fancy labeled containers to be trucked long distances. That is crazy. A very efficient, safe alternative is having water treatment equipment in your own home. Home filtration is better quality water at one tenth the cost. And that is not even counting the tremendous expense and waste in fuel consumption used to supply those bottles to stores that you still need to drive to.

Deciding to purchase whole house water treatment certified by Underwriters Laboratories is cost efficient, convenient and totally under your supervision. In fact, home filtration is one of the best investments we can make in our health. This is a proven fact: the human body depends on water as its main fuel source. All metabolic processes take place in the presence of and depend on water. The function of all cells is controlled by electrical signals sent through the nervous system from the brain. The brain is more than 75% water. No wonder we are sluggish and cross when we are dehydrated.

In addition to the previous facts, toxins can only be removed through the blood and liver by the action of water. An adequate intake of good quality water is essential to longevity and health. Keep in mind that the quality of the water is equally important as the quantity. When water is chlorinated or otherwise polluted it can not function efficiently to detoxify our blood. Whole house water treatment allows you to have pure, clean water coming out of every faucet in your home. Bathing, drinking, brushing teeth and cooking with clean water will result in softer hair and skin, improved energy and better digestion in a matter of days.

Some systems are not as beneficial as others however. Avoid reverse osmosis, a process that results in lack of minerals and only delivers water suitable for steam irons, not humans. The best water treatment equipment will be easy to maintain, quickly installed by any plumber and come with a free lifetime warranty. Don't be fooled by companies that claim their products are made from certified components either. Only trust a whole house water treatment product that is certified completely. Always ask for certification information. You are an educated, thoughtful consumer or you would not be reading this information. Go the distance and keep asking questions until you are satisfied that the water treatment equipment you purchase will do the job you require.

Your Water Treatment Process Facility Does Not Protect You From Drinking Liquefied Contaminants

Although you may not realize it, the municipal water treatment process in your city or town is not doing enough to keep you safe from the contaminants in our drinking water system. I realize that they prepare annual reports to show you just how much they are doing to keep your drinking water safe, but these reports don't tell the whole story. These documents are often doctored to make your water appear safer than it is.

Now, I know that might sound bold to state that these treatment facilities are falsifying reports as to the purity of your water, but the truth is it happens more often than you think. The treatment facilities must keep contamination of the water they process down to a bare minimum, which is something they are ill equipped to do. There have been many cases where false information has been used to make it seem as though a plant were running efficiently.

There is very little oversight of the municipal water treatment process, as the Environmental Protection Agency has few inspectors to go around. This allows more than enough opportunity for reports to be made to look as if everything is on the up and up. The EPA and many environmental working groups know that the level of safety of our drinking water is far below what is often reported.

There have been as many as 80,000 industrial chemicals that have been reported as present in our reservoirs by environmental groups over the years. These chemical agents are toxic to the human system, and more than 2,000 of them are proven to possess carcinogenic properties. The truth is that the treatment facilities are virtually helpless to stop these chemicals from reaching your home.

The water treatment process used by the municipal facilities do little more than the standard swimming pool filter does. The porous filters that are in use at these facilities are designed for demineralization, and not the removal of the liquefied or microscopic contaminants present in our reservoir system. Virtually nothing gets held back by these filters, guaranteeing you one or more chemical or other contaminant in every glass of water.

Think about how safe it makes you feel that the treatment facilities are incapable of removing the substances in your water that could negatively affect your health? You probably don't feel very good about this fact at all, and you have every right to be concerned about how drinking unfiltered tap water is going to affect your health. I have a solution to your problem with contaminants in your drinking water.

Instead of relying on the municipal water treatment process to keep you safe, it is a better idea to implement a treatment process of your own. You can have safe, pure water in your home by simply installing a countertop or under the counter drinking water purification system. Such a system will keep your water as safe as possible, and will improve the odor and taste.

The only water treatment process you can count on is the one that you put in place.

The Truth About Home Water Treatment Systems

We have excellent choices for home water treatment systems, today. But, regretfully, not everyone make the most excellent choice.

Of course, some experts say that any attempt at purification is better than none. But, some water treatment products are definitely better than others.

Do you know much about what's in your water? The list of possible contaminants is long, but primarily, you should be concerned about chemicals used for disinfection, disinfection byproducts, and bacteria that are resistant to chemical disinfection, as well as, hazardous compounds that are man made or naturally occurring.

The right home water treatment systems can remove all of these things. Luckily, some of the most affordable water treatment products do the best job. Let's look at a few examples.

Perchlorate is a naturally occurring compound that is used to make rocket fuel and as a medication to treat hyperthyroidism. If ingested by an otherwise healthy individual, it causes dysfunction of the thyroid gland or hypothyroidism.

In children, this causes developmental problems. In adults, it causes metabolic disorders. Researchers have found it in over 800 test sites around the United States. But, it is not regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency. So, currently, you have to assume that it is present in your tap-water.

The water treatment products that remove perchlorate target "volatile organic compounds" or VOCs. Most of the highly advertised home water treatment systems do not target those compounds.

For example, Brita and PUR do not remove them and neither does reverse osmosis technology. A technology called adsorption (not absorption) is needed to remove them. Typically, the process is performed using a carbon block, not granular activated carbon, which is what the cheapest water treatment products (PUR, Brita, and Ever-pure) include.

Public providers add chemicals to surface or groundwater to kill bacteria, algae, viruses and protozoa. Byproducts, primarily THMs, are created by this process. THMs are similar in composition to VOCs. They can only be removed through adsorption.

THMs are toxic and constant exposure can cause cancer. They become airborne due to boiling or the use of hot water in the shower. They can also be consumed by drinking unfiltered tap-water.

You can purchase whole home water treatment systems and remove the threats entirely. But, at the very list, you need a kitchen purifier and a showerhead filter. Only two of the five most popular showerhead filters remove THMs.

If you compare product performance data, you can learn what health hazards a system removes and to what extent. The data should also give you an idea of how much per gallon, your water treatment products will cost.

However, many companies do not provide complete information before you buy. Reverse osmosis providers may tell you "what" is removed, but not "how much". Brita is very evasive. It took a lot of time to find out that their pitchers only reduce lead by 93% and chlorine by 75%.

But, it was worth it, because now I have home water treatment systems that I know are effective. They gave me the freedom to drink and shower without worry.

HVAC - Is Water Treatment Necessary?

Drum-Kickers, Soap Salesmen...they have been called many things. Water Treatment specialists (probably the name they prefer) are everywhere. As a mechanical contractor, we have had many knock on our door. With most large commercial buildings and industrial facilities in Memphis utilizing water cooling/heating mechanical equipment, this industry is highly competitive, but is water treatment really necessary? In this edition of Mechanical Matters® I am going to answer that very question and discuss several other important facts about water treatment services.

In this edition I want to answer three questions regarding water treatment:

Exactly what is water treatment and is it necessary?

How does improper water treatment service effect mechanical equipment?

Are there energy savings with water treatment?

1. Exactly what is water treatment and is it necessary?

Water treatment describes a process used to make water more acceptable for a desired end-use. These can include use as drinking water, industrial processes, medical and many other uses.
The goal of all water treatment process is to remove existing components in the water, improving it for subsequent utilization. (Wikipedia.org)

In the mechanical industry water treatment is a method used to optimize most water-based mechanical and industrial processes, such as: heating, cooling, processing, cleaning, and rinsing, so that operating costs and risks are reduced.

Most water treatment programs include water softeners, inhibitors and other chemicals needed to 'treat' the water in order to reach the desired conditions for mechanical use and heat transfer. Products used to maintain proper water conditions are often fed automatically by sophisticated equipment directly into a chiller or boiler's water. Water is used for both cooling and heating in large commercial building applications. In most industrial environments water is used for cooling production equipment or an ingredient to making a product. How the water is used will determine what type of treatment is necessary.

Most water treatment companies use test kits and chemical dispensing systems which have made the use of water treatment chemicals in chiller, boiler and cooling-tower systems much easier. But attention to details, such as how often systems are tested, is critical to system performance. The correct water treatment chemistry at the correct time is extraordinarily important because even minor problems can create major costs.

Last week I sat down to breakfast with Gary Reynolds and Bob Schubert of Garratt Callahan. They are water treatment 'specialists'. Gary and I have worked together with several mutual customers. Their attention to detail, customer service and vast knowledge of water treatment is why many buildings in the Mid-South are in good hands with Garratt Callahan. In our meeting they provided me with some great information about the importance of water treatment, the effects of poor service and things to look for in choosing a service provider

2. How does poor or no service effect mechanical equipment?

Improper Water Treatment or no treatment at all will increase your energy consumption and operating cost while decreasing your mechanical equipment's efficiencies and life expectancy. A well designed and implemented water treatment program is highly important to the operation of any steam boiler, centrifugal chiller and cooling tower. All three of the systems shown below utilize water for cooling and heating.

Poor water treatment lets water interact with the surfaces of pipes and vessels which contain it. Steam boilers can scale up or corrode, and these deposits will mean more fuel is needed to heat the same amount of water. Cooling towers can scale up and corrode, but left untreated, the warm, dirty water they can contain will encourage bacteria to grow, and Legionnaires' Disease can be the fatal consequence. The condenser tubes within a chiller and other water cooling equipment can also scale up and corrode thus preventing good heat transfer. Increased energy consumption and poor cooling performance is common result in inefficient water treatment.

Water treatment can often be categorized as 'low-tech' and unglamorous. However, the right chemicals, proper chemical feed equipment, and a dedicated service provider is essential to your mechanical equipment and should be 'treated' with top priority.

3. Are there energy savings with water treatment?

Treatment Value: Expert water treatment can cut your water, energy, and maintenance costs substantially. Perhaps most important of all, it can save you the cost of fixing or replacing equipment that's been damaged by inadequate water treatment - including the downtime and lost revenue usually associated with solving such problems.

The examples of water treatment ROI (Return of Investment) shown below show how very thin layers of deposited material from poorly treated water can drive up energy costs.

Scale

System: 1,000 ton chiller

Operation: 12 hours/day, 365 days/year

Cost of electricity: $0.10/kWh

Scale thickness: 1/32 inch

Elimination of 1/32 inch of scale saved $15,018 per year.

Biological Fouling

System: 1,000 ton chiller

Operation: 12 hours/day, 365 days/year

Cost of electricity: $0.10/kWh

Bio-film thickness: 1/1000 inch

Elimination of 1/1000 inch of bio-film saved $26,834 per year.

"As little as 3/16-inch of scale can cause a boiler system to use 38 percent more fuel. The most minuscule amount of dissolved oxygen in the water also means a system could be headed for corrosion problems. And even a thin layer of bacterial slime in chiller tubes can significantly affect heat-transfer efficiency."

Wrap Up:

As mechanical contractors we are no strangers to the importance of water treatment. However, after researching and writing this article I can assure you that I am much more informed about the necessity and advantage to having a good water treatment program.

In this edition Mechanical Matters®, I discussed three important facts about chemical water treatment. First we learned the definition of water treatment and its use in the mechanical industry. Second, we learned that water treatment is definitely necessary, and without it your mechanical equipment will suffer. Last we learned how proper water treatment will save energy, and ultimately increase your bottom line.

Water Treatments For Your Home

Water will never be one hundred percent clean and pure. It will always have some sort of contaminant in it. These contaminants can be from natural things all the way to the man-made chemicals and substances. The majority of the substances that you find in the water are not dangerous. Some of these substances are dangerous to you and your health and need to be taken out of the water. Water treatment systems for your home are important for many reasons.

When you install a water treatment system in your home, it completes a process for getting rid of the contaminants in your water. You can surely choose from a few different ways to clean your water. You have the easiest method of adding a filter to your faucet or the hardest methods whereas chemicals are added.

Before you decide to get farther into the types of water treatment methods for home use, you will need to think over a few simple steps that will provide you and your family with clean drinking water.

Before You Can Fix It, You Need To Know What Is Wrong

If you do not know what the real problem with the water is, you may need to spend more money than if you can get the correct system to begin with. When you know exactly what the things are that you want removed from your water, you can purchase a system specifically designed for that purpose.

To find out about any problems in your water, you will need to have it tested. If you are supplied water from a public or municipal system, you should be free from water problems and water treatment at home will not be necessary for you. State and federal regulations are in place for these water systems to be tested on a regular basis. Microbial pathogens, toxic chemicals, and radioactive elements are killed to make sure that the water is safe to use and to drink.

Other problems can occur with the water that are not necessarily bad for you but, can cause you to have hard water, stained sinks and clothing, nasty odors, nasty smells, acidity, and foam in the water.

Things will change if you get your water from a private well. You become responsible for treating and the testing of the water you use.

Methods To Use For Water Treatment In Your Home

Water treatment systems for the home zone in on the process of getting rid of the harmful substances in the water that comes out of your faucet so that you can drink and use it with no problems. Some of the substances in your water that can be harmful to you are nitrates, pesticides, coliform, arsenic, and lead.

To clean the water, there are some ways to use a treatment method at home. They include;

1. Filtration using activated carbon

2. Steam distillation of the water

3. Treatment by ultraviolet lighting

4. Chemicals to soften the water or the exchange of cation

5. Filtration using a neutralization method

6. Filtration using oxidation

7. Sedimentary or mechanical filtration

8. Osmosis in reverse or filtering by using membranes

Point of Entry and Point of Use Devices For Home Water Treatment

There are two categories of home water treatments. They are the point of entry system and the point of use system. The point of use system works for treating the water from only one faucet while the point of use system is used to treat the whole house and all the water flow devices.

Oilfield Waste Water Treatment

Today's society has a voracious appetite for fuel, whether it is for use in transport or heating homes. Oil production, unfortunately, produces large amounts of waste water during the process of extracting oil. All Oil and Gas reservoirs have layers of natural water and hydrocarbons (a naturally occurring organic compound comprising hydrogen and carbon). In oil and gas production additional water needs to be injected into the reservoir to maximise the separation of its components. The waste water produced ("produced water") in this process contains many harmful substances such as hydrocarbons which need to be removed before the water can be recycled.

Waste water treatment and management is carried out in the main by companies who specialise in this field or carry out this function as part of their offering. Such companies carry out waste management services, tank cleaning, pipe work descaling, oil and chemical spill response, waste disposal and waste water disposal. Waste water treatment is an important area for such service providers, and becoming more so. This is because rigs are ageing and as an older rig's oil reservoir becomes depleted it has to inject more seawater to carry out the separation process effectively - thus producing more waste water that has to be dealt with.

It is important that treatment of the contaminated water is carried out in an efficient and cost effective manner. New technologies are being developed to deal with what is proving to be a difficult problem. Of particular interest is a low cost, simple and sustainable water treatment using a semiconductor as a catalyst. Semiconductor photo catalysis advanced water treatment is a clean technology which could be operated at low cost. The equipment is being designed to be mobile, allowing it be used in remote areas which are often difficult to reach.

More and more guidelines and directives will be governing the management of waste/produced water in the offshore industry and it's essential that companies work with governments and regulating bodies to reduce the harmful effects of their activities. Using science and technology, the possibilities for cleaner industrial processes in the offshore industry are huge.

The Water Purification Process Most Suitable For Home Use

Not every water purification process is created equal, which is why it's important to know which type works best. This article explains what kind of water purification process is most appropriate for home use so you won't have to invest in one that's below standards.

Our water treatment plants use a overly simplified filtering process, one that's been used since the early 1900s. This technology is extremely old and out of date, which is more the reason to get a quality home water filtration system. Our treatment plants filter water like an average swimming pool does: it filters out all the visible particles and sediment and then adds chlorine to disinfect it.

This leaves it up to us to invest in a quality filtration system at home that utilizes a water purification process that removes whatever is missed at treatment plants. And unfortunately, they miss A LOT.

Through my research, I've found that systems using a multi-stage water purification process removes most of the contaminants found in drinking water. Since many types of contaminants require a different means of filtration, it just makes sense to get a system that includes more than one type of filter.

For example, a sediment prefilter is great for removing sediment, particulates, chlorine, and microscopic particles that give water a cloudy look, bad taste, and bad odor. By clearing out these type of contaminants, the rest of the system can focus on removing more difficult ones.

To remove lead from drinking water, a water purification process like ion exchange works best. Why? Because it removes 99% of all lead ions and replaces them with healthy potassium ions, which is one of those natural trace minerals that our body has evolved to live on.

The most difficult contaminants to remove from drinking water are synthetic chemicals (VOCs), chlorinated byproducts (THMs), cysts, and other types of water pathogens resistant to chlorine. The best water purification process to remove these contaminants is sub micron filtration. The highest quality sub micron filters remove contaminants as small as 0.5 microns. To put that in perspective, that's around 600 times smaller than a human hair!

My family and I own a water purification system in our home that uses all three of these technologies to produce safe, pure, healthy drinking water. A cumulative water purification process like this removes over 99% of all the contaminants listed above and more, and costs less than $100 to get.

Drinking Water Treatment Systems - Which is Best?

There are about 2500 drinking water treatment systems of one sort or another on the market in the United States for home use. Some are as simple as filters you place on top of a pitcher, and pour water through. Some are as complicated as whole-house systems coupled with a water-softening system, which cost thousands of dollars.

A good salesman can make his product look like the clear choice that only an idiot would turn down for a different product, and it's no different with drinking water treatment systems. There is hype on all sides. By the end of this article, you'll know what you need to know about home water purification systems.

There are two types of systems widely sold in the United States:

· Reverse Osmosis A reverse osmosis system forces water through a membrane, which is essentially a filter, which has pores so small that the water molecules can just barely get through. Anything larger than a water molecule, like many dissolved solids, heavy metals like lead, and many chemicals, can't get through.

· Activated Carbon or "Solid Block Activated Carbon" (SBAC) An SBAC unit filters out contaminants via two processes-physical removal, where contaminants get stuck in the nooks and crannies and pores of a block of carbon, and adsorption, where contaminants are attracted and held to the surface of the carbon particles.

Advantages and Disadvantages:

· Advantages of Reverse Osmosis

1. Significantly reduces salt and most other inorganic material, and some organic compounds.
2. Parasites and viruses are usually removed by a properly-functioning unit.
3. When coupled with a high-quality activated carbon filter to capture the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that get through the reverse osmosis process, the treated water is essentially free of contaminants.

· Disadvantages of Reverse Osmosis

1. Point-of-use units at each faucet can make just a few gallons a day, so they require a storage tank, which takes up room, and requires maintenance.
2. Reverse osmosis wastes three to ten gallons of water for every gallon of treated water produced.
3. More maintenance is required to change filters and membranes and to clean the storage tank.
4. The efficiency of the membrane can degrade due to attack by some contaminants, and the slightest tear or other damage, which is hard to detect, can allow untreated water to flow through the system.
5. Because of their complexity, they are typically more expensive to install and to operate. Compared with the leading activated charcoal unit, they're usually about 2 ½ to 3 ½ times as expensive to operate.

· Advantages of Solid Block Activated Carbon Drinking Water Treatment Systems

1. Provide a very small pore size and a huge surface area to attract and trap bacteria and cysts; most chemicals, including VOCs; and pharmaceuticals.
2. Don't waste water like reverse osmosis systems.
3. Lower initial cost and lower operating costs.
4. Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium are not removed. Water tastes better, and provides some small amount of useful minerals to the body.

· Disadvantages of Solid Block Activated Carbon Drinking Water Systems

1. Do not reduce levels of dissolved salts such as nitrates, fluoride, arsenic and cadmium. These contaminants are not usually a problem except in heavily agricultural areas with poor water treatment facilities, but if they are, a reverse osmosis system would be preferable.

Bottom Line Unless the substances in the preceding paragraph are an issue, activated carbon drinking water treatment systems seem preferable. They don't waste water, they're less expensive to operate, and they're simpler and less prone to maintenance/degradation issues.