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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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Where
are America's ten most polluted rivers?
Where
does human waste mingle with household chemicals, personal hygiene products,
pharmaceuticals, and everything else that goes down the drains in American
homes and businesses? In sewers. And what can you get when rain, pesticides,
fertilizers, automotive chemicals, and trash run off the streets and down
the gutters into those very same sewers? Sewage backing up into people's
basements. Sewage spilling onto streets and parks. Sewage pouring into
rivers and streams. Each year, more than 860 billion gallons of this vile
brew escapes sewer systems across the country. That's enough to flood
all of Pennsylvania ankle-deep. It's enough for every American to take
one bath each week for an entire year.
After
bursting out of a pipe or manhole cover, this foul slurry pollutes the
nearest body of water. Downstream, some of it may be pumped out, treated,
and piped into more homes and businesses. From there, it goes back into
a sewer system, and the cycle resumes. This is the situation along the
Susquehanna River - which annual ranks in the top 15 of America's Most
Endangered Rivers list. One hundred and twenty three major sewer systems
in the Susquehanna River watershed link toilets and faucets from New York
to Maryland. Where the Susquehanna widens and becomes the Chesapeake Bay,
vanishing sea grasses and dwindling seafood harvests provide evidence
of poor sewage treatment and frequent sewage spills upstream.
A
Threat to Human Health.
Untreated
human sewage teems with salmonella, hepatitis, dysentery, cryptosporidium,
and many other infectious diseases. One hundred years ago, epidemics of
these diseases helped limit the life expectancy of a U.S. citizen to about
50 years. Estimates vary for how many people sewage still sickens or kills
each year, but they are all large. Germs linger even after the stench
of sewage has dispersed. Healthy adults may never realize that yesterday's
swim caused today's cough, diarrhea, or ear infection.
Young
children, their grandparents, and people already weakened by illness are
more likely to become seriously ill or die. Scientists believe as many
as 3.5 million Americans get sick each year after swimming, boating, fishing,
or otherwise touching water they thought was safe.
A
1998 study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology blamed
water pollution for one-third of all reported gastroenteritis cases and
two-thirds of all ear infections. So…just which ten rivers are typically
the most polluted? Of course the list changes from year to year, but the
ten below typically rank high.
On
the list below you will see the name of the river and the states most
responsible for the polluted conditions of the river.
1.
Mississippi River TN, AR, LA, MO, IL, MN, WI, IA, KY, MS
2. Pacific Ocean OR, HI, CA
3. Ohio River IL, IN, OH, KY, WV, PA
4.
Tennessee River KY, TN, AL 5. Houston Ship Channel TX
6.
Ward Cove AK
7.
Savannah River GA, SC
8.
Delaware River DE, PA, NJ
9.Thames
River CT
10.
Grays Harbor WA It's not just the people who play in and around the water
who are at risk. Between 1985 and 2000, the Centers for Disease Control
(CDC) documented 251 separate disease outbreaks and nearly half a million
cases of waterborne illness from polluted drinking water in the United
States. Another study by the CDC and the National Academy of Sciences
concluded that most illnesses caused by eating tainted seafood have human
sewage as the root cause.
Healthy and Convenient!
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