Water Contamination and Disinfection
Tabatha Hatler
SCI 207: Dependence of Man On The Environment
Alisha Etheredge
September 8, 2013
Water Contamination and Disinfection
Introduction
Water contamination is vastly becoming an alarming issue across the world. We rely on clean water to survive, yet right now we are heading towards a water crisis. Changing climate patterns are threatening lakes and rivers, and key sources that we tap for drinking water are being overdrawn or tainted with pollution (www.nrdc.org). Clean and plentiful water is the cornerstone of prosperous communities. Yet as we enter the 21st century, swelling demand and changing climate patterns are
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The purpose of the experiment was to test the levels of water contamination in each beaker to see how high each vial would contaminate the water based on the color the water became once each vial was poured into the given beakers. In Experiment 2: Water Treatment, I used potting soil, sand, activated charcoal, gravel, alum, bleach, and beakers with my own-supplied tap water. The purpose of this experiment was to see if the different particles placed in the tap water could be removed by various filtration techniques. In Experiment 3: Drinking Water Quality, I used several various test strips, each individual strip testing for ammonia, chloride, 4-in-1, phosphate, and iron, along with samples of Disanti bottled water, Fiji bottled water, and my own tap water from home. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if bottled water is any more or less filtrated than my own tap water at home.
Results
|Table 1: Water Observations (Smell, Color, Etc.) |
|Beaker |Observations |
|1 |Water – colorless, odorless |
|2 |Oil stayed
Are you ever thirsty for a nice cold glass of clean water? Most privileged people can find decent drinkable water in at least three places in the average kitchen. It’s a gift we commonly undermine. Unfortunately, many adults and young children aren’t granted this privilege. Striving each day to find clean water and still worry if it is safe enough to drink. All around the world some of the deadliest bacteria, diseases, and germs are alive in the water. Underprivileged countries do not have clean running water or even a decent well to draw from; this results in drinking from stagnate rivers, salty oceans, and contaminated puddles. Each year, thousands of people die from the bacteria living in unclean water. Sorrowfully, many of those numbers are young children! When a child becomes sick from bacteria found in their drinking water, an entire daily system becomes thrown out of balance. They cannot attend school or work, and it affects friends and family around them! Moreover, economical issues arise. Humans around the world have their whole lives ahead of them. Everyone should have daily access to clean drinking water to keep them healthy and growing. In this fallen world that’s not always the reality. The cycle that contaminated water brings is almost unstoppable.
Which of the following is an environmental concern of genetically engineered crops mentioned in your text?
There is a water crisis which faces many parts of the world and it is a threat to survival of human beings since humans are primarily dependent on water. Shortage in drinking water is beginning to show its effects in first world countries, but is a current major problem facing lesser developed countries which have not taken drastic steps to harvest water and purify it to make it safe for human consumption. In developed countries the population growth has strained available water resources and stretched the ability of governments and private firms to provide safe drinking water to the vast majority of the population. Seventy one percent of
At the beginning of 21st century, droughts and contamination of water around the world were having a huge impact on the quality of life, a decrease of crop production, decrease in drinkable water, and the economy as a whole. In Flint, Michigan, the corrosion of water pipes (resulting from a switch in the water supply) lead to a contamination of the water. Lead seeped into the water, then E. Coli was found, and later on, Flint’s water failed to pass the standards set by the Safe Drinking Water Act when byproducts of chemical purifiers were found. Flint still does not have full access to clean drinking water (Kennedy, 2016). At times like these, people need a way to cheaply purify and, sometimes, desalinate water so they can survive. For most
“Every year more than 3.4 million people die as a result of water related diseases, making it the leading cause of disease and death around the world” (Berman Para. 1). Water, it is essential to all life on earth, nothing really would be here without it. But safe water isn’t always an option. Water contamination and pollution is one of the main issues behind this. This is such a major issue because it can possibly cause illness, disease, mental issues, death, and in some cases, it has lead entire species to become endangered and even to become extinct (Environmental pollution Para. 1). This issue must be taken into consideration and have something done about it. Water contamination and pollution must be eliminated from the environment and prevented
Water is a critical source that is utilized by most living things on Earth to support it ways of live. The usage of water ranges from basic household needs to agricultural purposes. Water is one of the resources on the Earth that is becoming more and more scarce and the water available for usage is being further contaminated by pollution causing sickness and death.(World Health Organization).Countries are experiencing droughts affecting the water supply needed to maintain irrigation, thermoelectric power, and public supply. The definition of water pollution is the result of when too many toxic materials are present, in which negatively impact the water to be unsafe for its intended purpose, which may be drinking to industrial processes
In conclusion, chlorination is the most effective method of disinfecting water from drinking purposes. It’s the only method that keeps the water clean from the point of treatment to the point of consuming it. It is also the only disinfectant that is capable of minimizing all possible health risks caused by contaminated water. The adverse effects of chlorine such as its harmful by-products can be eliminated or reduced with the use of carbon
1,300 million people in this world do not have access to drinking water – as a result, 80% of illnesses are caused by contaminated drinking water.
Pathogens come in a variety of forms, such as viruses, bacteria or protozoa, and can have devastating, even fatal consequences if not treated in a water supply. Before the mainstream introduction of disinfection into the water treatment process, waterborne pathogens regularly caused epidemics, and diseases like typhoid, cholera and dysentery were rife (Scientific American, 1998). As has been mentioned in the previous chapter, the rapid gravity filtration process is relatively ineffective at removing these pathogens from the water and therefore disinfection is required as a follow up treatment. Adding chlorine to water can inhibit a large range of microbial waterborne pathogens, either killing them or decreasing their activity to a
The process of chlorinating water for the purpose purifying it, has only been around for just over a hundred years. Although the process has been seen to have a great effect, in reducing the amount of disease caught from drinking water (such as typhoid and cholera), it’s been a heated debate for years. The first case of water being disinfected on a mass scale, was done by a man named John L. Leal. Leal was a physician by profession, but was thought by many to be a bit of a mad man at the time, because of his idea that chlorine had the properties to disinfect water for drinking. It was thought at the time, that if chlorine is poisonous when in a gaseous state, then what’s to say that it’s not poisonous when it’s added to water (creating calcium hydrochloride), which it was (reference 1).Leal spent years of his life observing the effects were when very small amounts of chloride of lime was added to bacteria filled water. He observed in more cases than not that the chlorine of lime in the water, ended up killing almost all of the bacteria while leaving it at a similar PH level of water. During the year of 1908, soon after Leal was given a job at the Jersey City Water Supply, and with the help of his friend George Warren Fuller (an engineer). In complete secrecy they installed a ‘chloride of lime feed facility’ at the Boon Reservoir, which was the main reservoir for Jersey City (reference 1). Three months after he committed this daring act, he was called to court
Two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom are the basic components which fundamentally make up a water molecule. However with the process of water treatment, chemicals such as chlorine (Cl) or ozone (O3) are added to improve the safety and quality of the water (Water, 2014). Before the system of water treatment was adopted, drinking water was often contaminated with bacteria which led to water-borne illnesses such as cholera and typhoid. The concept of treating water was adopted in India using the technique of sunlight to destroy bacteria, charcoal filtering and storage of drinking water in copper compartments (Water, 2013). The city of Toronto receives their tap water from Lake Ontario and is filtered through Toronto’s four Treatment Plants as
The issue of polluted water influences all of us, from the most youthful individual to the most seasoned. One of these issues is that water contamination is viewed as a standout amongst the most hazardous sorts of pollution. Considers have demonstrated that dirtied water can slaughter around 900 million. This implies individuals experience the ill effects of the absence of steady access to spotless and sound water that is free from contaminations and industrialized waste, making them bite the dust from this lack. “The result is one of the world's greatest public health crises: 4,500 children die every day from waterborne diseases, more than from HIV-AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.” (‘Water and Sanitation’ N.D). This subject will help bring issues to light and urge individuals to stop the demise of these sad kids by sparing more water and protecting it. A great many people are uninformed of the reasons that are behind water contamination. There are many causes that can influence water and contaminate it.
Access to clean water is a basic human right and yet people around the world don’t have that right and they struggle to survive without it. The many uses of clean and potable water include water for drinking to cooking other daily purpose. It is reported that over 1.1 billion people lack access to an improved water resource and three million individuals, and majority of them children, suffer and die from water-related disease. The need to improve water quality and providing clean water should be major project for developed countries like the US and so called “well developed countries”.
Issues relating to water are increasingly becoming a major global concern. The need for fresh water is fundamental to human life and an increasing percentage of the global population do not have access to it. In 2011 the UN Secretary-General expressed how ‘Safe drinking water and basic sanitation are intrinsic to human survival, well-being and dignity’.) . However, with the global population on the increase, the demand for water and food
Diseases are not only being spread through airborne water, but they are also being spread by the water used for bathing, drinking, cooking, etcetera. A technological system that has become especially intertwined with everyday life is that of water transportation systems. Unless one is linked to a well, household water most likely comes from an intricate system spread throughout the city. These municipal water systems provide potable water to homes on a scale unimaginable before this century; however, these same systems can be efficient conduits for causing epidemics. Most water supplies in developed countries are effectively treated in municipal water treatment facilities. However, in some circumstances, the treatment may be ineffective because of faulty procedures or resistance of organism to the procedures. In large urban areas, distribution of contaminated water can affect huge numbers of people. An example of this occurred in 1993 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when approximately 400,000 residents experienced gastrointestinal symptoms caused by Cryptosporidium oocysts. Over 4,000 people required hospitalization during that outbreak.