Water

There are plenty of ways to purify water. You can purify water right in your own home by boiling it and using a common household salt. Major bottlers will give you their ways of purifying the water they sell and of course the cities we live in follow strict guidelines. The most common way our municipalities treat our water to make it safe for drinking is a four-prong process: screening, coagulation and settling, filtration, and disinfection. First, water that is taken from the sources like a lake or river might have wood, fish, debris and plants. These by-products are screened out as the water is drawn into the plant. If the source happens to be groundwater, the screening process isn't as vital since the layers of the earth that the water travels through acts as a natural screen. Secondly, when the water reaches the plant it is coagulated and settled. This is a process where water is mixed with aluminum sulfate and chlorine. The aluminum sulfate forms sticky globs, which attract bacteria and other impurities. The chlorine kills germs and improves taste and odor. The water and the globs then flow into a sedimentation basin where the globs "settle" to the bottom and are removed. Thirdly, the water flows through special filters made of layers of sand and gravel. The gravel layer of the filters is about 1 foot deep and the sand layer is about 2 Ð'Ð... feet deep. This filtering removes any remaining particles left in the water. Lastly, disinfection, disinfecting chemicals are added and chlorine is used once more. This process kills any surviving germs and keeps the water clean as it travels to our homes. In some water treatment plants that use ground water, this is the only method needed to treat the water.

Recently, chlorine has been getting a bad rap for it being a carcinogen (cancer causing agent). Heat and pressure have been vocalized to search for another method to disinfect our waters. In the United States we pay major bottlers for water that has been treated with ozone and reverse osmosis filtration. Since my research on many things effecting our environment and health it looks like in our country everything's about the almighty dollar! This trend needs to stop. It's very sad to know that we possess everything we need to make this country and the world a better place for every single person but because of political standards we are faced with some very disheartening concerns to the welfare of our planet and mankind.

There are many components found in our drinking water supplies that can be harmful to our health. Inorganic elements as well as contaminants found in