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Did
you know?
Reverse osmosis is the finest water filtration method known. This process will
allow the removal of particles as small as ions from a solution. It is used
to purify water and remove salts and other impurities in order to improve the
color, taste or properties of the fluid. R.O. uses a membrane that is semi-permeable,
allowing the fluid that is being purified to pass through it, while rejecting
other ions and contaminants from passing.
This technology uses a process
known as crossflow to allow the r.o. membrane to continually clean itself. This
is the reason of why an r.o. element can last many years before clogging or
need replacement. This
water purification process requires a driving force to push the fluid through
the membrane, and the most common force is household water pressure or pressure
from a booster pump. The higher the pressure, the larger the driving force and
efficiency.
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Palatability of drinking water
We
have discussed at some length now various types of pathogens and methods
of destroying them in the process of making water potable -- safe to
drink. This is highly important, but it is not the whole story; for
water must be palatable as well as potable.
What
makes a water palatable? To be palatable a water should be free of detectable
taste and odors.
What
constitutes a detectable taste or odor? Undoubtedly, you have tasted waters
which have had unpleasant tastes or odors. Natives in the area may be
surprised to note your reaction. For after drinking the water for many
years they find nothing peculiar to either the taste or odor of the water.
And then there are those waters which have tastes and odors so obnoxious
(hydrogen sulfide water, for example) even the long-time inhabitant can't
stomach them.
Turbidity, sediment, and color also play important roles in determining whether
a water is palatable.
ODORS
AND TASTES
Various odors and tastes
may be present in water. They can be traced to many conditions. Unfortunately,
the causes of bad taste and odor problems in water are so many, it is
impossible to suggest a single treatment that would be universally effective
in controlling these problems.
Tastes are generally
classified in four groups -- sour, salt, sweet and bitter. Odors, on the
other hand, possess many classifications. There are some 20 of them commonly
used, all possessing rather picturesque names. In fact, the names in many
cases, are far more pleasant then the odors themselves. To name a few
of them -- nasturtium, cucumber, geranium, fishy, pigpen, earthy, grassy,
and musty. Authorities further classify these odors in terms of their
intensity from very faint, faint, distinct and decided to very strong.
All taste buds and
olfactory organs are not necessarily of the same acuteness, but generally
you should not be aware of any tastes or odors in water if there is to
be pleasure in drinking it. If you are conscious of a distinct odor, the
water is in need of treatment.
In many cases it is
difficult to differentiate between tastes and odors. Both the taste buds
and olfactory organs work so effectively together it is hard to determine
where one leaves off and the other begins. To illustrate: hydrogen sulfide
gives water an "awful" taste, yet actually it is the unpleasant
odor of this gas that we detect rather than an unpleasant taste. Unfortunately
there is little in the way of standard measuring equipment for rating
tastes and odors. Tastes and odors in water can be traced to a number
of factors. They include:
(1) decaying organic matter;
(2) living organisms;
(3) iron,
manganese and the metallic products of corrosion;
(4) industrial waste
pollution from substances such as phenol;
(5) chlorination;
(6) high mineral concentrations;
(7) dissolved
gases.
In general, odors can be traced to living organisms, organic matter and gases
in water. Likewise, tastes can be traced generally to the high total minerals
in water. There are, however, some tastes due to various algae and industrial
wastes. Now how can these objectionable tastes and odors be removed from
water?
Some tastes and odors,
especially those due to organic substances, can be removed from water
simply by passing it through an activated carbon filter. Other tastes
and odors may respond to oxidizing agents such as chlorine and potassium
permanganate. Where these problems are due to industrial wastes and certain
other substances, some of the above types of treatment may completely
fail. In some cases, for example, chlorination may actually intensify
a taste or odor problem. Potassium permanganate has been found to be extremely
effective in removing many musty, fishy, grassy and moldy odors. Two factors
make this compound valuable -- it is a strong oxidizing agent, and it
does not form obnoxious compounds with organic matter. However, a filter
must be used to remove the manganese dioxide formed when the permanganate
is reduced.
In any case, you may have to try a number of methods in an attempt to rid a
water of objectionable tastes and odors. If methods considered here do
not work, it may be more economical to seek out a new source of drinking
water.
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