Chemicals, garbage, plastic, and other pollutants fill our rivers, reservoirs, lakes, and oceans. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes limits for contaminants and pathogens in water and controls drinking water quality in water systems. But occasionally, the water is contaminated with high concentrations of microbes and pollutants. At the water’s source (such as groundwater or water from lakes or rivers) or while the water is being distributed, the bacteria and chemicals can enter the water after the water treatment plant has removed germs and chemicals from the source water.
In industrial systems, each impurity has its dangers in addition to degrading the quality of pure water.
The Common Contaminants
-
Physical contaminants: Water’s physical characteristics or appearance are affected mainly by physical impurities. Physical contaminants include silt or organic matter suspended in lakes, rivers, and streams due to soil erosion.
-
Chemical contaminants: Chemical pollutants could be created by humans or by natural occurrences. Nitrogen, bleach, salts, pesticides, metals, bacterial toxins, and human or animal medications are a few examples of chemical pollutants.
-
Biological contaminants: Organisms in the water are biological pollutants. Bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and parasites are a few examples of biological or microbial pollutants.
-
Radioactive contaminants: Chemical elements that are radioactive pollutants have an uneven number of protons and neutrons, which leads to unstable atoms that can release ionizing radiation. Radiological pollutants include substances like cesium, plutonium, and uranium.
How RO Filtration System Can Help
RO Water purifiers can successfully remove several contaminants from water, but which contaminants they remove depends on the filter you use. There isn’t a water filter that can remove every single contaminant from water. Still, you can get a filtering system that only provides clean, fresh water by combining different water purifying treatment methods.
The two primary modes of operation for water filters are physical filtration and active, or chemical, filtration.
An “active” filter modifies the contaminant in some way before physically filtering it out of the water, which is how most filters combine these two techniques. You can virtually eliminate everything from your water by combining various types of filters with one or more different treatment processes.
-
Removal of physical contaminants: A sediment filter can clean the water of dirt, silt, sand, and sediment. Sediment filters are present in most water treatment systems because large particles can easily harm more delicate water treatment equipment. Backwashing and cartridge filters work similarly to remove sediment from water. Water enters the filter and passes through a filtering media, such as filtering sand or pleated polyester, before exiting the filter.
-
Eliminate chemicals and pesticides: Due to its effectiveness in eliminating organic molecules, an RO filter is one of the best water filters for removing pesticides and other impurities. Catalytic carbon, a type of activated carbon, is also efficient. These filters attract and hold a lot of pesticides, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), arsenic, and silt.
-
Removal of chemical pollutants: Many water treatment systems use chlorine and chloramine as disinfectants to eliminate bacteria and other pathogens. Although these substances are typically efficient disinfectants, they could persist in the water supply. Chlorine and chloramine can make water taste and smell bad and harm fish and other marine life. Different kinds of carbon water filters remove these disinfectants from the water.
You can find the best reverse osmosis system on our website if you need a water filtration system for your commercial enterprise.