What causes water pollution?

Pure water is colourless, tasteless, and odourless and is chemically composed of just two elements, hydrogen and oxygen. Because water is such a good solvent, it dissolves almost everything that it comes into contact with. Water is known as a ‘universal solvent’. That is why the water we get from rain, well, streams, rivers, etc. is not pure. Many health problems can be caused by polluted drinking water. The main causes of water pollution are because of these three pollution contaminants in water:

1. Dirt or Suspended Solids in water
2. Biological contamination caused by living organisms like algae, bacteria, protozoa, pathogens, microbes, viruses, parasites and their eggs (cysts). These water contaminants are usually referred to as bacteria, germs or microorganisms.
3. Chemicals in water: Many chemicals like fertilizers, pesticides, reaction products of Chlorine disinfectants, heavy metal chemicals from rocks and soil, etc. gets into water to cause dangerous pollution

Here below we elaborate more on each of the different types of impurities in water.

Dirt or Suspended Solids in water

These are the solids which are insoluble like dust, fine sand, clay, rust, etc. They remain suspended in the water and cause muddy water or cloudiness in water. 'Total Suspended Solids' or 'TSS' is the technical term used to measure how much of dirt there is in the muddy water. 'Turbidity' is the term to describe the muddy water and a unit of measurement of cloudy water is based on the transmission of light through the muddy or cloudy water.

A simple filter usually called a sediment filter, with pore size of 20 microns or lower can remove almost all of the suspended matter in muddy water. Also the use of flocculants like Alum is used widely to settle and clear muddy water.

Muddy water after passing through a simple filter may be good for drinking, as long as there is no contamination with germs and dissolved chemicals. We have a dedicated page for Suspended solids in water and turbidity in water

Types of Germs in Water

Biological contamination of water is caused by the presence of living organisms like algae, bacteria, protozoa, pathogens, microbes, Viruses, Parasites and their eggs (cysts), etc. known collectively known as microorganisms and commonly called 'germs'. The health effects of drinking water contaminated with germs may be severe, but easily curable with modern day medicine. These minute living organisms in water are the causes of diseases like typhoid, dysentery, cholera, gastroenteritis, etc.

Water tanks can sometimes be a breeding ground for microbes in water. In the usual test for microorganisms, only one group of bacteria known as Coliform or e-coli is tested for, this is because it is the most common species, and the first microorganism to infect water. Membrane purification of water actually filters out all bacteria from water unlike UV water purifier which kill bacteria in water but leaves their bodies in the drinking water. More from our page for Germs, Bacteria, Parasites and Viruses in water

Dangerous chemicals found in drinking water in India

The problem with chemicals in water is that they dissolve in water and cannot be removed by simple filtration. 'Total Dissolved Solids' or 'TDS' is the technical term used to give a measure of the amount of dissolved matter in the water and is usually expressed as 'ppm' which stands for 'parts per million' or as 'milligrams per liter' (mg/L). To remove dissolved chemicals in water, it has to be either distilled or purified by using an RO water purifier. Some of the most dangerous chemicals found in drinking water in India are listed with an explanation as to how it affects our health in our page for toxic poisonous chemicals in water.

Best way to buy Water Purifiers in India

The best way to buy Water Purifiers in India is to first look at all models of Water Purifiers available online at the leading online Retailers in India. For example on the online webpage of All Water Purifiers available in India on Amazon.in, you will find the full range of Indian Water Purifiers complete with their best discounted price and full specifications. This is great information, and you can decide on which model of water purifier to buy. With the model of water purifier you want to buy finalised, you can go to local shops to try and find the model of water purifier you have chosen and see if you can get at similar price of that at Amazon.in. In most cases the price from Amazon will be cheaper, because they buy in bulk from the manufacturers direct and they sell huge volumes because they are the world's largest and most trusted online retailer. If you buy from Amazon, they will arrange to have the water purifier installed in your house, usually free of charge.

Warranty and other facilities offered through Amazon are usually better than what you can get from local agents of water purifiers.

All pages in our website www.AchaWater.com

Below are links to all the pages on this website and we hope you will make full use of all the great information about Indian Water Purifiers provided here.