What Will Happen if we Drink Polluted Water?

Drinking polluted water would have detrimental effects on your health. You will become susceptible to a range of different types of diarrheal diseases such as Cholera, Typhoid, Guinea worm disease, and Dysentery. It is also important to realize that many viruses and bacteria live in untreated water, and efforts made to make water cleaner will make a substantial difference to your health in the long run.

Water Purification:            

Water purification is the easiest way to consume purified water. There are many purification systems available these days with different abilities. Ideally, you should choose a multi-stage purification system. If you’re looking for a way to add water purification to your home for a better lifestyle, then get in touch with professional water services in your area. They will be able to provide you with in-depth information about products including their specifications. Until then, here is some helpful background information regarding water purification:

How does Water Purification Work?

Water purification involves turning dirty water into clean water that is free from contaminants, odor, sediments, and odd taste.  During proper filtration, the water is strained through gauze-like membranes which can remove and catch larger particles. In chemical filtration, the water is treated with patented technologies that can remove all the impurities.

Stages of Water Purification

Water filters have several physical processes that can make the water more consumable. Some processes include distillation and filtration. These processes include sand filters or active carbon filters which adsorb contaminants. Other ways involve chemical processes like chlorination or flocculation and the use of electromagnetic radiation like UV light.

What are the Stages of Water Treatment?

Water treatment is a multi-step process. The first step is water collection, followed by screening and straining, chemical addition, coagulation & flocculation, sedimentation & clarification, filtration, disinfection, storage, and distribution. Water purification with filters installed in a home or business environment involves a system of multiple filters or a single filter that will remove contaminants of one form or the other. Generally, a well-rounded water purification system will have a three-step system that includes a pre-filter (removes large sediments), a secondary filter (removes smaller particles), and a post-filter for a final polish. A typical pre-filter has an activated carbon filter, a secondary filter is usually a Reverse Osmosis system, and a great post-filter is something like a UV light or another permeable membrane pass-through.

Various Water Purification and Filtration Systems

  • Reverse Osmosis

RO or Reverse Osmosis is a simple water filtration mechanism. Here, the water and other solvents are passed through a semi-permeable membrane. The membrane then blocks the dissolved solutes from the water, filtering out all sorts of contaminants such as ions, pesticides, microorganisms, and other chemicals. RO is also the most effective method of water purification. Many water treatment plants have also started using the RO technique.

There are various components involved in a RO system. The functions of the components are listed below:

Pre-filters: When water is purified, it passes through Reverse Osmosis pre-filters. Some of the most commonly used pre-filters are sediment and carbon filters. They help remove dirt, Chlorine content, and other sediments present in water to protect membranes from damage.

RO membrane: RO membrane is the most important component of this purification system.  This membrane helps in further removing contaminants from the water.

Storage tank: As the name suggests, it is a tank that stores the water after the water goes through purification. The storage capacity of every purifier is different, which is the reason why you need to check it before making a final decision.

Post-filters: Before the water stored in the tank runs out of the Reverse Osmosis faucet, it enters through the final post-filters known as carbon filters. They help remove bad odors from the water you drink and help improve its taste.

Drain line: The drain line in a RO purifier is used to drain out all the wastewater that consists of dirt and other contaminants.

  • UV

UV or Ultraviolet disinfection involves a UV lamp. The UV light from the lamp used in this process is high-powered and known as UV-C or germicidal UV. The UV-C rays can penetrate the body of pathogens in order to deactivate them. The rays then modify the DNA of the pathogens in such a way that they are unable to multiply. These rays also have the ability to kill 99.9% of micro-organisms.

Unlike what happens in chemical disinfection, the harmful micro-organisms cannot develop any immune mechanism against the light from the UV lamp of a UV water purifier. Pre-treatment can also maximize the efficiency of UV purification. Water passes through sediment filters and carbon filters during the pre-treatment phase. Sediment filters help remove silt, while carbon filters help eliminate the organic impurities present in water.

  • UF

Ultra-Filtration or UF uses hydrostatic pressure forcing the water against a semi-permeable membrane. This semi-permeable membrane then filters out bacteria and other micro-organisms. It even eliminates bad odor from the water.

UF is not very different from RO purification, micro-filtration, or nano-filtration, except in the size of molecules it retains. The Ultrafiltration system also helps by removing colloids, bacteria, pathogens, and other types of molecules larger than the size of the pores in its semi-permeable membrane.