Contaminant Prevention

Any kind of undesirable physical, chemical or micro-biological materials can lead to water contamination. These pollutants degrade the quality of natural ground water while contamination is reserved for pollution that constitutes a hazard to human health. There are four major types of contaminants which are associated with water pollution:

Inorganic contaminants – Chemical parameters is used to measure the presence of contaminants in the water. The inorganic contaminants majorly comes from pollution released by the industries which gets combined with the ground water, presence of chemicals like calcium and magnesium which basically depends on the geographical adds bitterness to the water and presence of iron makes the water appear red in color etc,.

Organic contaminants – The major anthropogenic sources of organic contamination are pesticides, domestic waste and industrial wastes, etc. Contamination through organic materials can cause serious health issues like cancers, hormonal disruptions, nervous system disorder etc. Trihalomethanes are formed when chlorine in the treated drinking water combines with naturally occurring organic matter.

Biological contaminants - The presence of living organisms like algae, bacteria, protozoan or viruses causes biological contamination of water. These organisms can cause distinctive water problems. Algae are generally single celled and microscopic in size. The algae depends on water for nutrients which comes from domestic run-off or industrial pollution. Excess of algae growth does not only impart the taste of water and create odor problems, but also clogs filters, and produces unwanted slime growth on the carriers.

Radiological contaminants – The contamination of water by the radioactive elements or materials like soils or rocks and the water from industrial waste causes radiological contamination. Erosion of natural deposits of certain minerals may emit radiations. Radiological elements tend to create greater problems for ground water than in the surface water. All type of radiological contamination increases the risk of cancer.

Drinking water subjected to contamination requires appropriate treatment to remove disease causing agents. Public drinking water systems use various methods of water treatment to provide safe drinking water for their communities. Some of the most common water treatments used are :

(i). Water Purification or filtration Systems

(ii). Water softeners

(iii). Coagulation and Flocculation

(iv). Sedimentation

(v). Distillation Systems

(vi). Disinfection