There is a saying ‘old is gold’ and it has been proved once again by water filters. When it comes to cutting down the repugnant earthy taste of some tap water, older the water filter better is the taste — this fact has been discovered by scientists in Australia. Panel of scientists writing in the Inderscience publication International Journal of Environment and Waste Management has explained that bacteria which grow on particles in a sand filter effectively extract the compounds that produce the taste.
Gayle Newcombe — Research Leader at the Applied Chemistry Unit of the Australian Water Quality Center in Salisbury, South Australia gives further reasons, “Although adverse odors do not present a risk to human health, their presence often leads to a misconception that the water is unsafe for drinking.”
Gayle and her colleagues have investigated the effect of sand filters in extracting the most common earthy molecules, geosmin and methylisoborneol, from the water supply. These two compounds occur naturally in water and are non-toxic.
Demonstrating at the Australian Water Quality Center and Bridget McDowell in the School of Chemical Engineering at The University of Adelaide, they said that geosmin and MIB can be removed using biologically active sand filters. In such filters, the particles of sand are allowed to accumulate a biological film of beneficial bacteria that absorb and break down the biodegradable odor molecules.
Testing sand filter material taken from working water treatment plants, the team found that sand taken from a 26-year old filter had a well-established biofilm and was able to remove any detectable traces of geosmin and MIB in less than two weeks. And on the other hand, Fresh filter sand with no biofilm was essentially ineffective, removing less than two-thirds of the geosmin and MIB even after several months of operation.
The team is now investigating how to accelerate the development of active biofilms for water purification. Now, this can be a challenge to water company to provide consumers fresh tasty water. If it is achieved, millions of people can have access to quality drinking water.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
More than one billion people don’t have access to pure drinking water
On this planet , there is much more water than there is land, but still 1.1 billion people lack access to an improved water supply - approximately one in six people on earth.
The World Health Organization and UNICEF state that even in the United States, which has one of the best supplies of drinking water in the world; threats to drinking water quality still exist. Even though, in the United States forty-eight million people receive their drinking water from private or household wells.
In naming 2008 the U.N.’s International Year of Sanitation to highlight the problem, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said “The international community has failed to deliver on this basic right. Today, more than 2 billion people around the world lack access to basic sanitation services.”
Ban further added “an estimated 42,000 people die every week from diseases related to low water quality and an absence of adequate sanitation. And this situation is unacceptable.”
There are many reasons which make water quality susceptible and most of the water around the world is vulnerable from climate changes, to natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, to possible terrorism attempts, and to industrialization.
But, today there are many water treatment technologies that can provide a better quality of water. There are also new technologies that take existing methods and improve upon them to provide better efficiency, lower energy consumption and lower cost.
Among the most popular aesthetic products, for at-home use, are the water pitcher and water faucet mount filters. They can eliminate chloroform, industrial and agricultural pollutants, metals, off-tastes, chlorine, sediment, and cysts such as cryptosporidium and giardia, which are derived from animal waste. These are fine products, but are not designed to stop all bacteria and viruses from entering the water supply.
The other water treatment methods are reverse osmosis, ion exchange, filtration, ultraviolet treatment to eradicate chemicals, pathogens and other dangerous contaminants. But, before you invest in a system, each water treatment device or method should be analyzed and tested. There are many water filters manufactured by top water filtering companies which you can rely upon for quality drinking water.
The World Health Organization and UNICEF state that even in the United States, which has one of the best supplies of drinking water in the world; threats to drinking water quality still exist. Even though, in the United States forty-eight million people receive their drinking water from private or household wells.
In naming 2008 the U.N.’s International Year of Sanitation to highlight the problem, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said “The international community has failed to deliver on this basic right. Today, more than 2 billion people around the world lack access to basic sanitation services.”
Ban further added “an estimated 42,000 people die every week from diseases related to low water quality and an absence of adequate sanitation. And this situation is unacceptable.”
There are many reasons which make water quality susceptible and most of the water around the world is vulnerable from climate changes, to natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, to possible terrorism attempts, and to industrialization.
But, today there are many water treatment technologies that can provide a better quality of water. There are also new technologies that take existing methods and improve upon them to provide better efficiency, lower energy consumption and lower cost.
Among the most popular aesthetic products, for at-home use, are the water pitcher and water faucet mount filters. They can eliminate chloroform, industrial and agricultural pollutants, metals, off-tastes, chlorine, sediment, and cysts such as cryptosporidium and giardia, which are derived from animal waste. These are fine products, but are not designed to stop all bacteria and viruses from entering the water supply.
The other water treatment methods are reverse osmosis, ion exchange, filtration, ultraviolet treatment to eradicate chemicals, pathogens and other dangerous contaminants. But, before you invest in a system, each water treatment device or method should be analyzed and tested. There are many water filters manufactured by top water filtering companies which you can rely upon for quality drinking water.
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