Water purification and water
filtration is the process of removing contaminants from a raw
water source.
The goal is to produce water for a specific purpose with
a treatment profile designed to limit the inclusion of specific
materials; most water is purified for human consumption (drinking
water). Water purification may also be designed for a variety of other
purposes, including to meet the requirements of medical, pharmacology,
chemical and industrial
applications. Methods include, but are not limited to:
ultraviolet light, filtration, water softening, reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, molecular stripping, deionization, and carbon treatment.
Water purification may remove: particulate sand; suspended particles of
organic material; parasites, Giardia; Cryptosporidium; bacteria; algae;
virus; fungi; etc. Minerals calcium, silica, magnesium, etc. and toxic
metals (lead, copper, chromium etc). Some purification may be elective in
the purification process, including smell (hydrogen sulfide remediation),
taste (mineral extraction), and appearance (iron incapsulation).
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Alpine Springs Distributing Co
545 Portal St, Cotati, CA 707 793-9297
Culligan Water
110 Dodd Ct, American Canyon, CA 707 558-1000
Ecowater Systems
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33 Maxwell Ct, Santa Rosa, CA 707 542-5111
General Plumbing Supply Co
3436 Broadway St, American Canyon, CA 707 558-1900
Multi-Pure-Filtration Systems
2364 Clay St, Napa, CA 707 226-8255
Phillips & Assoc Management
2201 Jefferson St, Napa, CA 707 254-1931
Shaklee Distributor
1450 Diamond Mountain Rd, Calistoga, CA 707 942-5955 |
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Other popular methods for purifying water,
especially for local private supplies are listed below. In
some countries some of these methods are also used for large
scale municipal supplies. Particularly important are
distillation (de-salination of seawater) and reverse osmosis.
It is not possible to tell whether water is safe to
drink just by looking at it. Simple procedures such as boiling or the
use of a household activated carbon filter are not sufficient for
treating all the possible contaminants that may be present in water
from an unknown source. Even natural spring water - considered safe
for all practical purposes in the 1800s - must now be tested before
determining what kind of treatment, if any, is needed. Chemical
analysis, while expensive, is the only way to obtain the information
necessary for deciding on method of purification.
Boiling: Water is heated hot enough and long enough
to inactivate or kill micro-organisms that normally live in water at
room temperature. Near sea level, a vigorous rolling boil for at least
one minute is sufficient. At high altitudes (greater than two
kilometers or 5000 feet) three minutes is recommended. In areas where
the water is "hard" (that is, containing significant dissolved calcium
salts), boiling decomposes the bicarbonate ions, resulting in partial
precipitation as calcium carbonate. This is the "fur" that builds up
on kettle elements, etc., in hard water areas. With the exception of
calcium, boiling does not remove solutes of higher boiling point than
water and in fact increases their concentration (due to some water
being lost as vapor). Boiling does not leave a residual disinfectant
in the water. Therefore, water that has been boiled and then stored
for any length of time may have acquired new pathogens.
Carbon filtering: Charcoal, a form of carbon with a
high surface area, absorbs many compounds including some toxic
compounds. Water passing through activated charcoal is common in
household water filters and fish tanks. Household filters for drinking
water sometimes contain silver to release silver ions which have an
anti-bacterial effect.
Distillation involves boiling the water to produce water vapor. The
vapor contacts a cool surface where it condenses as a liquid. Because
the solutes are not normally vaporized, they remain in the boiling
solution. Even distillation does not completely purify water, because
of contaminants with similar boiling points and droplets of
unvaporized liquid carried with the steam. However, 99.9% pure water
can be obtained by distillation. Distillation does not confer any
residual disinfectant and the distillation apparatus may be the ideal
place to harbor Legionnaires' disease.
Reverse osmosis: Mechanical pressure is applied to an impure solution
to force pure water through a semi-permeable membrane. Reverse osmosis
is theoretically the most thorough method of large scale water
purification available, although perfect semi-permeable membranes are
difficult to create. Unless membranes are well-maintained, algae and
other life forms can colonize the membranes.
Ion exchange: Most common ion exchange systems use a zeolite resin bed
to replace unwanted Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions with benign (soap friendly) Na+
or K+ ions. This is the common water softener.
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