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
