The Water Purification Process: What You Need to Know and How Water Purifiers Work

Today, the public water purification process is complex, involving a multitude of steps. But, no matter how far they have come, we still cannot rely too heavily on the facilities.

Knowing this, most people use a “point of use” water purifier in their home, if only to remove the chlorine that the treatment facility relies on for disinfection purposes. Advanced in-home water purifiers can do much more. Let’s look at a bit of history.

Using the chemical for disinfection began in the 1800s. Outbreaks of cholera and other waterborne illnesses were all over the United States. The cities had quickly become crowded over the years and no plans had been made for water purification.

The first water purifier was a distiller type. People who understood the dangers could use a simple version at home. Basically, if one boiled the water before use, it would be “safer”.
Moving forward in time, we see the development of reverse osmosis water purifiers. RO became a popular step in the public’s water purification process. It could remove trash, dirt, and other particles. In areas where it was necessary it could also remove salt.

It was a major advancement in water purification, but because people didn’t understand that it was only one step, they began to buy the units for use at home. As a water purifier, RO leaves much to be desired. Just one disadvantage is that it cannot remove chlorine.

Removing the chemical became desirable at first because of bad taste and odor. Activated carbon and charcoal water purifiers began to appear in homes. Today, you will find a carbon step in nearly every water purifier on the market. The step has even been added to the pricey RO systems.

Now, we know this. Not only does the chemical taste bad, but drinking chlorinated water is also bad for the health of human beings. The fact that it killed bacteria should have been an indication, but sometimes scientists don’t think ahead. They solve one problem and unknowingly create another or two.

In order to solve the new problems, newer water purification systems were developed for home use. Many people still cry for the government to do something, but it seems that in this situation, we have to take care of ourselves.

There is no realistic way that they can stop using chlorine as part of the public water purification process. They can use UV lights at the facility, but once the waters leave the facilities and are stored for use by people, bacteria, protozoa, parasites, algae and other biological matter could begin to grow. That’s why it is added again as a last step.

The only option that we have is to use a in the kitchen. Water purifiers that remove chlorine are good, but those that remove THMs (by-products of chlorination) are even better.

The ill effects of drinking chlorinated water include digestive problems, respiratory illnesses and allergic reactions. The long term adverse health effects include cancer. Both chlorine itself and THMs have been linked to rectal and breast cancer. It is obviously necessary for complete water purification, but no one should drink it.