Running water: types, methods of disinfection, possible harm

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

As you know, a person is 70% water. For this reason, it is impossible to rid yourself of the constant need for fluid. The only thing left is to drink water. To transport drinking water to homes today, pipes are used, which are not as clean as many people think.

Running water: definition and types

Running or tap water - water that flows from the taps of private houses and apartments. The supply of houses is handled by the water utility. This practice has been applied in all cities of the world since the last quarter of the 19th century. Such water is obtained, as a rule, from water intake facilities.

The temperature of running water can be different (from 0 to 60-75 degrees). Already, perhaps, everyone managed to notice that both hot and cold liquid can flow from the tap.

Modern water supply systems are capable of supplying premises with the following types of water:

Drinking water.
"Non-potable", designed for agricultural needs and watering gardens.
"Refined". Fitsfor cooking.

It is worth noting that today in Japan it is actively practiced to use already used drinking water in flush tanks.

Decontamination methods

Today it is almost impossible to meet a body of water with perfectly clean water. This is due to the fact that almost all rivers and lakes from which the resource is extracted are already polluted, and not by nature, but by man.

To ensure that water enters the pipelines in a purified form, a number of procedures are applied:

Chlorination.
Ozonation.
Coagulation.
Filtering.

At the end of the purification process, the water is re-chlorinated before being sent to homes around the world.

During periods when floods or snowmelt begin, the liquid is subjected to several additional processes: the addition of activated carbon and potassium parchment, as well as repeated (third) chlorination.

What harm can cause he alth?

Running water can be harmful to human he alth if:

It contains chlorine (almost always).
There are impurities in the pipeline.

Through the use of chlorine, people have been able to prevent the development of infectious diseases. However, it has recently been found that after chlorination, the liquid begins to accumulate various carcinogenic substances. Scientists also found that after the interaction of water and chlorine, trichloromethane begins to form. And this connection can lead to the developmentcancer.

In the situation with pipes, we can say that the most purified water will be in those houses that are located closer to the treatment facilities. Liquids often have to travel 10 kilometers or more to reach more remote locations.

If the main pipes are replaced every few years, then rarely anyone pays attention to the intra-house pipeline. For this reason, it is recommended to drain several liters of stagnant fluid in the morning, which contains rust, mucus and other harmful elements.

Even if it seems to a person that the water in his tap comes in pure form, it is better to conduct a chemical analysis or a rapid test. Drinking contaminated liquid can lead to more than just infectious diseases. There will also be a risk of getting diseases of the cardiovascular system, oncology, kidney problems, etc.

Settling tap water

Thanks to settling, everyone can clean running water with their own hands. To carry out the process, you only need to follow these steps:

Cover the container with water and leave to stand.
After about 5 hours, sediment will form on the bottom of the container in the form of chemicals contained in the liquid.
Remove 2/3 of the water, which can be used for cooking or drinking. The rest should be poured out, as it still contains substances that have not had time to settle.

To defend water for more than 5 hours is strongly notrecommended, because after this period, pathogenic flora containing bacteria dangerous to humans will begin to actively develop in it.