What is distillation, chlorination, boiling?

Question

I will aslo need refences(where you got it from) and the science and technology involved in making water safe.

Answer 1

Distillation is the practice of heating the water up to boiling and condensing out the water vapor for collection. The vapor is free of bacteria and some minerals. Very energy intensive and isn't used for most large scale drinking water treatment.

Chlorination is the practice of adding chlorine to the water to disinfect it and protect you from pathogens in the water so it doesn't make you sick. Note that I said disinfected....NOT sterilized. There is a huge difference.

Boiling is just what it says it is. The water is boiled, but the vapor is not collected. Hi temp is used to kill the pathogens in the water to make it safe to drink. The minerals are left intact and a bit more concentrated than when you started.

Filtration is the practice in water treatment where the water is allowed to pass through a filter. In most large scale systems these filters are made up of layers of sand, anthracite charcoal and small rocks or stones. These are called rapid sand filters and must be backwashed periodically to maintain their effectiveness. Side note...filtration through these type of filters does NOT make them microbiologically safe. Chlorine is added pre filter and allowed to kill all the way through filter (called T-10 times/and Contact times or CT times....it is a calculation used to make sure the chlorine has adequate time to kill the bacteria based on the flow capacity of the filter) and then it is also added post filter and alot of times combined with ammonia to form chloromines to hold a residual in the distribution system to prevent regrowth.

RO or Reverse Osmosis utilizes a ion selective membrane to filter the water through. It is also called microfiltration. The membrane will only allow water molecules and a few selected other ions through the membrane, but will not let bacteria or heavy metals or salts or other contaminants pass through it. Useful for desalinization fo sea water for drinking purposes.

Answer 2

Sorry about the references . I lived in Ecuador for 12 years. The city water we could use chlorine or Clorox, or boil it. We tried for 4 ppm. and if u get it a little strong just boil it a little will get rid of most of the chlorine. Also good practice to strain it before u chlorinate it.

Answer 3

There are several ways to filter water. If you are worried about harmful bacteria you will boil the water or add chlorine. On the industrial level many sewer plants are starting to us UV bulbs to kill the bacteria.

The best way to explain the science and technology used to make water safe would be to explain the levels of water quality.

1. Black water-this is what you flush down the toilet-activated sludge and chlorine/UV system is to remove bacteria and nutrients.

2. Grey water-goes down the drain from sink or shower also irrigation water-usually either goes with the black water to the sewer plant or is used to water lawns.

3. Purple water-what they drink in Florida-black and grey- water which has been cleaned to drinking water standards.

4.Drinking water-comes out of your sink-has to be filtered to me EPA drinking water standards.

5. Distilled water-usually bought at a store-it has been filter through a membrane to remove dissolved minerals.

6. DI water-used for cleaning equipment in labs-it is pure H20 created by a machine on the wall of the lab. Bad for human consumption because all the minerals and chemical have been striped out.

As you can see there is different technology used to create different levels of water quality. You just can't lump them into one idea.

Answer 4

In Canada fresh potable water is titrated.  Dark water goes through a filter bed to drop the sediments, then it;s skimmed.  Then it goes through an oxydation process.  Then it's chlorinated and flouride is added (for good dental hygeine apparently) then it's pumped to your kitchen sink tap. and it actually is not bad tasting--except for the chlorine.