Water is essential for our lives. Life is not possible without water. It is one of the most valuable resource which is required by all. it is the main component of Earth’s streams oceans, lakes, and the fluids of most of the living organisms. Water is present in our body, in fruits and food that we eat. All forms of life require water. There is no other substance more essential for our existence than water. Water is a molecule bonded together by two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.
The quantity of water is not reducing, but the demand for it is consistently growing. Moreover, the quality level of water is consistently diminishing because of contamination. Water is being wasted by the people. Industries put untreated water into the ponds, rivers, lakes, etc which deteriorates the quality of water and also affects the aquatic animals. Consuming this contaminated water can cause various health related issues like typhoid, cholera, diarrhoea and various other diseases. Harmful and untreated chemicals disposed by industries into the water bodies leads to growth of algae on which bacteria grows and leads to increase in oxygen level in the water which affects aquatic life.
Drinking water has many benefits like it keeps skin healthy, regulates body temperature, flushes waste from the body, prevents kidney damage, helps in losing weight, helps in maximising physical performance, and many more. Drinking water keeps us hydratedand delivers oxygen throughout the body but the major issue throughout the world is the safety and availability of drinking water. Due to consumption of contaminated water with toxic chemicals leads to health risks. Polluted water isn’t just filthy- it’s deadly. Improvement of health can be resulted from improving the access to safe drinking water.
In an attempt to make the water safer to drink, people install water filters in their houses which throws out the contaminated water and makes water safer to drink. Bottled water is safe to drink but it becomes expensive and makes it a recurring expense. Water filters are more economical in nature as they only require some maintenance regularly to maintain the safe quality level of the water. Tap Water purifiers are also available in the markets which can be easily installed on the tap itself and it contains a Hollow- Fibre UF Membrane which helps in removing virus and bacteria from the water. A good domestic WATER PURIFIER PRICES IN INDIA ranges between ₹5,000-15,000.
The commonly used technologies in water purification system are:
- RO purification
- UF purification
- UV purification
- Candle filter purifier
- Activated carbon filter purifier
- Gravity based water purifier
- Multi Stage water purifier
- RO Purification: Reverse Osmosis is a price-effective technique to eradicate the pollutants from the water by using a semipermeable membrane. It is most extensively used technique. It requires electricity for purification of water. It needs high water pressure for which an additional water pump is used in all RO purifiers. It removes dissolved salts and all the suspended and visible impurities like rust, mud, etc. It alters the taste of water. It is competent of treating water with high Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). The size of the membrane is 0.0001 Micron. It wastes a lot of water.
- UF Purification: Ultra Filtration purification technique uses membrane that is same to that of RO but with bigger pores. It is perfect where the presence of chemicals in water is less. It does not need electricity and is competent of working with normal tap pressure. It cannot eliminate harmful metals, dissolved salts. There is 0% reduction in TDS level. The size of the membrane is 0.01 Micron. It doesnot waste water.
- UV Purification: Ultraviolet purification uses UV radiation to kill the viruses and germs present in the water. But the dead bodies of germs stay in the water. It consumes less electricity as compared to RO purification. It is capable of working with normal tap pressure. It does not eradicate harmful metals. No filtration is done and no membrane is employed in this technique. It is not competent of reducing TDS. There is no wastage of water.
- Candle filter purifier: These filters have very basic operating system. The candle consists of very minute pores that are competent to trap the visible impurities. The impurities which are smaller than the size of pores are not trapped for which water must be boiled before drinking. Candles need to be cleaned frequently for effective operation. It does not require electricity for operating.
- Activated carbon filter purifier: It contains a web of small pores with size varying from 40-1000 nm. The large surface area of activated carbon removes chemicals, pesticides which cause most of the water borne diseases. It uses ‘’Adsroption’’ process through which, all the chemicals and metals stick to the surface of Activated carbon. It removes heavy metal particles. The improper maintenance of the filter can cause larger growth of bacteria on the surface of activated carbon.
- Gravity based water purifier: This filter works on the basic rule of water passing from higher chamber to lower chamber through natural force of gravity. These are designed to eliminate suspended bacteria, impurities and cyst. It operates with regular pressure and without electricity. It is portable and easy to use. It eradicates just suspended and visible impurities like dirt, mud, sand etc and does not remove harmful metals. It is not capable of reducing TDS level.
- Multi Stage water purifier: Modern domestic multi stage water purifiers employs different kinds of water purifiers in single unit. It employs a combination of technologies to ensure that water is pure and safe to drink. The combination of technologies are RO+UV filters, RO+UV+UF filters. The technology employed is same as used in the above discussed filters but with a combination of technologies which assures that the water is germ, bacteria, and virus free and also reduces the level of TDS.
The aim of all the technologies used in water purifiers is to offer a pure and safe drinking water. The person should opt for the purifier according to the quality of water supplied in their locality.