A clean water supply is essential to the human population. Water takes up over seventy percent of the world’s surface. Humans are made up of mostly water and need water to live and perform at their best every single day. So, as humans, why don’t we care more about purifying our water that we drink and use every day? There are so many different contaminants that can harm our freshwater supply, so having the ability to clean and purify our freshwater before we use it is very important. When it comes to harmful contaminants in our drinking water, there are four broad categories we’ll be taking a look at here. These categories include physical, chemical, biological, and radiological.
Psychical Contaminants
A psychical containment is considered as sediment and natural materials that are found in our rivers, streams, and lakes. Usually, this is caused by soil erosion and is something that we can hold in our hands that may cause our water supply to be contaminated. Sewage can runoff into our water supply and cause viruses and bacteria to be in our water causing disease, bad odor, and chemically changing the water. We can help prevent this by cleaning up our roads and properly disposing of our trash.
Chemical Contaminants
Chemical contaminants are something that we can see or hold in the palm of our hands. These types of contaminants can be from fertilizer, nitrogen, bleach, salts, metals, and toxins from bacteria. This type of contaminant might not even be realized until people start getting sick or the water is tested. It is important to have purification companies and scientists do tests on our freshwater supplies to make sure that we are not taking in harmful chemicals that can make us sick.
Biological Contaminants
Biological contaminants are organisms that are found in our water. This type of contaminant can be referred to as microbes or microbiological contaminants. These can range from viruses, parasites, and protozoans. Again, these are contaminants that you can not see or touch with your hands. These types of contaminants must be tested to be identified in our water. Like chemical contaminants, biological contaminants can cause nausea, disease, and sickness to those who take in water that is not treated properly.
Radiological Contaminants
Radiological contaminants are an element that has unbalanced protons and neutrons that result in an unstable atom that can emit ionizing radiation. Some examples of radiological contamination are cesium, plutonium, and uranium. Other radiological contaminants can be naturally occurring as well. The sun’s rays, the earth’s crust emits radiological contaminants in our water and even our DNA is considered a radiological contaminant. The best way to compensate with radiological contaminants is to have a purified water system that can help clean these types of contaminants no matter how you get your source of water from.
The Solution
Water is our most essential element to live, and it’s important that we keep our water clean to survive. There are many different contaminants that can cause our water to be harmful, so it’s important that you know what sort of contaminants may be in your water supply and that you have a purifying system for the water you use for your daily activities. Take the first step towards a healthier water supply and contact Austin Water Solutions for a free water quality analysis today.