Water purification is the process of removing unwanted impurities, contaminants and possible chemicals from water. The purpose is to produce clean quality water that is good for human consumption. The process of water purification involves many methods depending on the impurities found in the water and the source of water itself. Some methods are easy and practical, but there are also more complicated methods as well.

• Most home procedures for water purification is by boiling water long enough to kill bacteria and microorganisms that are in the water. Boiling means water is heated to extremely high temperature to get rid of the unwanted bacteria.

• There is also carbon filtering, which is a process of letting the water pass through activated charcoal to get rid of toxic chemicals. This method is usually used in household water filters.

• Distillation is a process involving boiling the water to produce water vapor. The water vapor cools down and is condensed to go back to its liquid form to be collected. At least, this process accounts to a 99% of pure water.

• Reverse osmosis is a process wherein mechanical pressure is forced upon an impure solution to get the pure water by passing through a semi-permeable membrane. To get the best results of this method, it is wise to always keep the permeable membrane very clean all the time to get rid of harmful microorganisms that might live inside the membranes.

While the above methods are useful, it is not a guarantee that all the unwanted harmful elements in water are taken out. That is why there is a need for chemical analysis which is used to find the best kind of water purification to be applied on water.

• One such chemical process of water purification is flocculation, wherein the water is treated with little amounts of chemicals that will result to the formation of a flocculent chemical which traps unwanted particles. The flocculent chemicals commonly used are aluminum salts and aluminum sulfate, which is flocculated by the small addition of lime to raise the ph of water.

• Chlorination is putting chlorine into the water and letting it settle for a certain amount of time to have its effects of purification. This often used in swimming pools and water tanks.

• Solar disinfection is a process wherein a plastic bottle is filled up with water, placed on a metal surface and fully exposed to the sun for at least six hours. The radiation and hot temperature of the sun would kill bacteria within the water.

• Water purification has also evolved into instant and handy forms such as the use of iodine tablets, which can kill most of the harmful microorganisms in the water. This iodine water purification method can also come in the form of iodine solution or crystallized iodine.

Water purification is important to safeguard the health of people. There is a quality standard that is strictly enforced by government to provide clean and safe drinking water to all.

Jonathan Pitts

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