Hello,
My name is Hella Frankel, Director of Technologies Innovations and compliance at Strauss Water. In this post I will share with you the process of water purification and tell you about the steps required to produce quality drinkable water, suitable for human consumption.
One of the biggest challenges of humanity has always been the water issue – a challenge we are still facing today and will continue to face in the future: water availability and ensuring quality water supply to the entire population on the globe.
Water as a Basic Necessity for Development
Availability of water is the most basic need on earth. In keeping with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: without satisfying the need for water there can be no fulfillment of higher needs – personal, social and political. Quality water supply for all purposes and consumers is the key to consolidation.
Evidently, one of the differences between developing and developed countries is measured by the availability and quality levels of water accessible to their inhabitants. So what is quality water? What defines them as suitable for drinking? How do we transform water, a natural resource, into a drinkable supply?
Criteria for Creating High-quality Water
By the time water is reaching the end-consumer, it has already undergone a long treatment process.
Let’s treat water as a “product”, like any other product we know. Its final quality depends on several factors:
• Quality of the raw material – When it comes to water: its source and its components
• The process undergone by the raw material from the its base form to the product we consume
• Definitions (specifications) of the end-product
Substances Found in Drinking Water
This time I would like to start with the third stage- the end of the process: We will define water intended for consumption in general and drinking water in particular. These definitions are effectively “water quality standards”. These standards are set on the national level based on recommendations provided by the World Health Organization. They specify the allowed level (threshold level) of each of the substances found in drinking water.
These substances can be divided into three types of categories: First, chemical compounds with health effect – above a certain threshold level they can risk the user (for example – the presence of heavy metals in high doses). Second, substances with aesthetic effect – these can cause poor consumer experience, ie, substances that do not have a biological effect but they can reduce the aesthetic experience of water consumption – water taste, sight, smell, and more. These substances can be chemical compounds such as sulfur and chlorine, or loose physical particles such as rust or sand. Finally, microbiological elements – the presence of bacteria, viruses and parasites. Above a certain threshold level they can cause disease or indicate improper water purification that endangers anyone who uses it.
Adjusting the water source cleansing process
Not every water source is, indeed, a safe drinking water source. There are water sources whose initial state does not allow for a proper cleansing process that will ensure compliance with the standards and definitions of drinking water.
The water purification process is designed to deal with all the above-mentioned substances and adjust their concentration to the threshold determined by authorities for consumer-safe water.
Disinfection and Removal of Contaminants
Next, it is necessary to remove microbiological contaminants, and prevent secondary infection. The most common method of disinfection used is adding chlorine or its derivatives to water. Chlorine causes incubation of bacteria and viruses, while residues of the active material in the system make sure that the water remains free of microbiologic contaminants. It should be noted that the entire process is accompanied by tests to secure the achievement of desired water standards.
From the Treatment Facility to In-home Consumption
In a long journey, water is carried through pipes from the treatment facility to the homes of water consumers. This journey and the substances water absorbs on its way to us, have an impact on the quality of water in the end. One of the obstacles, for example, can be a problematic transport system, that can contaminate the water after it had already left the treatment facility.
The Importance of Purification at the Point of Consumption
In order to have drinkable water, it is important to ensure cleansing/ treatment at the point of consumption or POU- Point Of Use. Even in areas where water come from a quality network, “treatment / purification” of water at the point of consumption will secure its quality and taste, providing microbiological protection and removal of unwanted substances absorbed along the way.
In conclusion, I tried to share with you the water purification process, describing here briefly and simplistically a process which is highly complex.
This is a process that brings together expertise in many areas – engineering, biology, chemistry, public health and more.
Treatment or purification at the point of consumption is in itself a fascinating issue, which combines aspects of purification technology, performance and measurement, differences between water treatment and water purification, what can be defined as “water purifier”, what needs to be understood before choosing a counter-top water dispenser, and more . These topics will be discussed in my next posts.
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