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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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Forms of micro-organisms in drinking water. Part 3
VIRUSES
The
smallest of the infectious microorganisms is that group of parasitic forms
known as viruses. Too small to be seen under a microscope, viruses are
capable of causing disease in both plants and animals. Viruses can pass
through porcelain filters that are capable of screening out bacteria.
Viruses, such as those producing infectious hepatitis, poliomyelitis,
meningitis, and gastroenteritis, can be waterborne. Drinking water contaminated
with any of these viruses is hazardous.
Virus.
A
minute (0.004 to 0.1 micron in diameter) infectious agent that is much
smaller than bacteria. Viruses are generally considered parasites that
are incapable of growth except in the presence of living cells. They can
be preserved indefinitely even when frozen or dried.
As you can see from
even this brief summary, there is a tremendous variety of living organisms
in water. To understand and classify their countless varieties requires
an immense amount of knowledge and time. Where these organisms are pathogenic
or disease-producing, they may make water unsafe to drink. For obvious
reasons, even where there is just a possibility that water contains pathogenic
organisms, it must be considered contaminated. While there is a large
and varied number of pathogens, no single contaminated water supply is
apt to contain more than a few of this countless varieties. On one hand,
this is fortunate. But at the same time, it makes detection of pathogens
extremely difficult in terms of a routine water analysis.
Note:
Not only are speed and accuracy essential in testing sources of drinking
water for purity, but frequency is also highly important. Municipal systems
run tests on a sliding scale: the more inhabitants there are in the community,
the more frequent the tests. A sanitary engineer for a community of 10,000
would be required to run a minimum of 10 tests a month; an engineer for
a city of 1,000,000 would run 300 water sample tests a month.
Tests
on private water systems are seldom, if ever, made. In the vast majority
of cases, one sample is taken. If it shows the water is safe, no further
tests may be made on that well. Unfortunately, a serious limitation of
coliform bacteria tests is that they indicate the condition of a given
sample and no more. Once a test shows lack of contamination, there is
no guarantee water cannot become contaminated even within a short time.
Proper location and construction of a well are important factors. Equally
vital is regular chlorination of the water and frequent contamination
tests.
Since
both speed and accuracy are essential, laboratory scientists need a sure
way to expedite detection of pathogens. They have a dependable answer
in a group of readily identified organisms that indicate possible contamination.
These indicator organisms are the coliform bacteria.
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