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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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TURBIDITY OF DRINKING WATER
Pick
up a glass of water and hold it to the light. Can you see any finely divided,
insoluble particles suspended in the water? Or does the water seem hazy?
If so, the water is turbid.
Turbidity. Turbidity and suspended
matter are not synonymous terms, although most of us use the terms more
or less interchangeably. Correctly speaking, suspended matter is that
material which can be removed from water through filtration or the coagulationfiltration
process. Turbidity, on the other hand, is a measure of the amount of light
scattered and absorbed by water because of the suspended matter in the
water.
There
is also some danger of confusion regarding turbidity and color. Turbidity
is the lack of clarity or brilliance in a water. Water may have a great
deal of color -- it may even be dark brown -- and still be clear and without
suspended matter.
When water has a large
amount of such suspended particles, we lose our zest for it. While it
may be safe to drink, it seems offensive. The EPA Interim Primary Drinking
Water Regulations recommend that turbidity of a potable water be less
than 1 unit and less than 5 units under special
conditions. The suspended particles clouding the water may be due to such
inorganic substances as clay, rock flour, silt, calcium carbonate, silica,
iron, manganese, sulfur, or industrial wastes. Again, the clouding may
be caused by organic substances such as various microorganisms, finely
divided vegetable or animal matter, grease, fat, oil, and others.
While turbidity may
be due to a single foreign substance in water, chances are it is probably
due to a mixture of several or many substances. These particles may range
in size from fine colloidal materials to coarse grains of sand that remain
in suspension only as long as the water is agitated. Those particles which
quickly sink to the bottom are usually called sediment. There are, however,
no hard and fast rules for classifying such impurities. Water from a swiftly
flowing river or stream can contain a considerable amount of sediment.
In contrast, water taken from a lake or pond is usually much clearer.
In these more quiet, nonflowing waters there is greater opportunity for
settling action. Thus all but very fine particles sink to the bottom.
Least apt to contain sediment are wells and springs. Sediment is generally
strained from these waters as they percolate through sand, gravel and
rock formations.
Turbidity varies tremendously
even within these various groupings. Some rivers and streams have water
that appears crystal clear with just trace amounts of turbidity in them,
especially at points near their sources. These same moving waters may
contain upwards of 30,000 ppm of turbidity at other points in their course
to the oceans. In fact, turbidity in amounts well over 60,000 ppm have
been registered.
Again, there are significant fluctuations in the amount of turbidity in a river
at different times in a year. Samples taken at various times from the
same site show the Allegheny River carried from a high of 65 ppm of turbid
material to a low of 2 ppm. The average ran around 21 ppm.
The Flint River at Albany, Georgia ranged from a high of 560 ppm to a
low of 12 ppm. An even more striking example of these seasonal variations
in turbidity is provided by the Arkansas River. At Arkansas City, Kansas
the high was 27,500
ppm, the low 14 ppm
and the average 2,300
ppm.
Heavy rainfalls, strong
winds, and convection currents can greatly increase the turbid state of
both lakes and rivers. Warm weather and increases in the temperature can
also add to the problem. For with warmer weather, microorganisms and aquatic
plants renew their activity in the water. As they grow and later decay,
these plant and animal forms substantially add to the turbid state of
a water. Also, they frequently cause an increase in odor and color problems.
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