Water Solutions

Purified water is defined by the level of impurities found in the water. The impurity load of total dissolved solids (TDS) in purified water should never exceed 10 ppm (or parts-per-million).  

Types of water as per water solution

Tap water 

Tap water is the water that you receive from your municipal water supply. The quality of water in this case varies by location to location. The geology of the region is an important decisive factor in determining the chemicals found in it. Though it is one supposedly treated by the municipal corporation, yet it can't be used for drinking. The reason behind are two factors:

• Unsuccessful water treatment
• Traces of chemicals used for treatment left behind in water.

Hopefully your tap water is safe to drink, but over 35 million americans don't have that luxury. Filtered water is one solution.

Filtered water

Filtered water is the water obtained by passing water through a special membrane often used with chemicals. The water passing through it is clean and free of most physical and chemical contaminants. Most filter membrane consists of activated carbon and micron filters, which help to remove chemicals such as chlorine (commonly added to municipal tap water as a disinfectant), pesticides and metals like copper or lead. Filters have evolved over the years to successfully eliminate foul odor and taste. 

In spite of all benefits it offers there are still certain drawback :

• Cannot remove contaminants with particle size identical to that of the filter membranes
• Unable to treat all pathogens include some harmful viruses.

Purified water

Purified water is better than filter water. The treatment process is also quite complex as that of filtering process. Purified water goes a step further than filtering, with a process that removes chemical pollutants, bacteria, fungi, and algae. It makes use of advance technology like Reverse Osmosis(R.O), Ultraviolet (UV) etc.

Distilled water

is a more specialized type of purified water but much easier to produce at home. Along with purified water, it also meets the purification requirement for total dissolved solids of below 10 ppm (parts per million).

The process of distilling is simple. Untreated water in a container is heated its boiling point to turn it into vapor. This vapor is made to condense back to water into another container. This separates contaminant residue and water into two separate containers. Thus distilled water is obtained. The water obtained is 99% free of all contaminants. The only drawbacks it being an energy intensive process and mineral deficient water. 

Around a couple of centuries back surface water was as pure as ground water. But with rapid industrialization and urbanization even ground water has become unfit for raw consumption.

Thankfully with time we have experienced great advancement in science and technology. Government control has been helpful in ensuring optimum level of water quality. 

Check out all the methods of water purification available to us.

The presence of minerals like calcium and magnesium can cause hardness in water. Water hardness phenomenon makes water difficult to use while cleaning and washing. This is because minerals like calcium on reacting with soap forms 'soap scum' instead of bubble lather. This 'soap scum' is of no use in cleaning and washing. Hence more soap or detergent is used to perform the same task than that would have required using soft water. 

Water softening is the process of eliminating these minerals in water.

Desalination is a process of removing salts and mineral components from saline water. It is used to remove salinity and make water suitable for various fresh-water human needs. Brine and fresh water are the two by-products of desalination. 

Desalination is classified into two scales : Home & Industrial Scale.

1. Home desalination is mostly accomplished by distillation. 
2. Industrial facilities generally fall into one of the two categories: thermal and membrane.

• Thermal facility: Seawater(saline water) is heated up to pure vapor. The vapor is condensed to pure water and remaining brine pumped back to the sea. It is an old technology and is more energy intensive process. 
• Membrane facility: Seawater(saline water) at great pressures is made to pass through a series of filter. This filters pure water and traps the contaminants (for their molecular size being greater than that of filter). Is energy efficient and accounts for 70% of desal water.

The criticism of desalination is that it takes a tremendous amount of energy to operate. Another drawback is brine which is a highly saline water. When pumped back out to sea, it sinks to the seafloor and destroy the aquatic ecosystem by spiking salt content.

Water can be alkaline or acidic depending on its pH. pH of water is a measure of the relative amount of free Hydrogen and Hydroxyl ions present in it. Depending on the presence of these Hydrogen and Hydroxyl ions water is characterized into the alkaline or acidic as:

• Number of Hydrogen ions[ H+] > number of Hydroxyl ions [ OH-]

This indicates that the above solution is Acidic in nature and has pH<7.

• Number of Hydrogen ions[ H+] < number of Hydroxyl ions [ OH-]

This indicates that the above solution is Basic in nature and has pH>7.

The pH balancer is used to balance the pH of water. If water is to be used for drinking, pH balancer aims to bring water into the range of 6.5 - 8.5 pH.

Dissolved oxygen in water is crucial to the organisms living in water. Its deficiency is not known to have a fatal impact on humans. But it does affect the taste of water.

Recent studies have shown the benefits of oxygenated water. Check out the benefits of the same. 

Hot water with salt is termed by many as medicine. Hot water finds a lot of uses with humans. From bathing to drinking to cooking we make many uses of hot water at our homes.

Check out our water heater section for best water heating appliances.

Water temperature is another important factor. Hot water is not known to satisfy thirst better. Besides what can be better than a cold glass of water on a hot sunny day?

Check out the water cooler section of urban aqua care.