Skip to main content

When Your Drinking Water Suddenly Turns Green




When Your Water Suddenly Turns Green
Water turns green
On 8 July, 2019 NAFDAC issued a public alert on some lots of a particular batch Eva table water produced by Nigeria Bottling Company(NBC) that have turned green, although NAFDAC also have published another statement on the same green Eva Bottle Water giving the general public confidence on the quality of Eva Bottled Water produced by NBC. One thing NAFDAC did not do is to make their findings public, it is a confidential report that can only be requested since their finding may not demaging and of no threat to the general public, but, what really may be wrong with those lots of eva bottled water, why is the whole batch not affected or why is the entire production for that day not affected, with these questions and more we will be discussing in the next paragraphs to try know the possible cause of the problem.

What can be responsible for this unusual occurence?

When water turns green, whether treated water or untreated water, pond water or bottle water, what should come first to the mind of a scientist or a producer or water treatment analyst or a regulator is micro organisms, and among the micro organisms, the first suspect should be green algae. Although some people have suggested chemical contaminants with their primary suspect as copper, but, copper from science do not make water turn green but blue, since the colour of copper is blue. From scientific studies only green algae can turn water into green, algae are ubiquitous micro organisms and have been detected severally even in well treated water. Do we say there is a treatment failure as some people have suggested? Some suggested activated carbon filter failure, this is not correct as carbon do not deal with micro organisms, neither is there is a complete water treatment failure.

Sources Of Contaminants

Treated or untreated water usually contain micro organisms due to their ubiquitous nature, and algae is not an exception to this nature, it can be introduced into water undergoing treatment, before or during or after treatment, another possibility is during packaging for bottled and sachet water. Even when we have a closed system of water treatment, it will only reduced exposure to micro organisms not total elimination, even the personnel in charged are a good source of micro organisms if their personal hygiene is very poor, especially personnel in bottling section, the containers(preforms and caps and sachet, etc) are good source of contaminants, likewise the filling machine, in this section the best that can be done is to reduced to the lowest minimum exposure to micro organisms not total elimination.

Conditions That Encourages Growth

As earlier discussed algae, the causative micro organism responsible for green colouration of water is ubiquitous, they are found even in treated water, but, there are conditions that encourages their growth in our treated water and which automatically affect the quality of our water

1. Water

Treated or untreated water are good source of nutrients for the grow and proliferation of algae, since most water contain dissolved minerals in them, this in-turns support the growth of algae and other microbes

2. Sun light

The role of sun light in the survival of algae is very vital and cannot be over look, interestingly green algae are photosynthetic micro organisms, when water that contain micro organisms such as green algae are exposed to sun light ,there will be a massive growth of green algae as sun light not only serve as their source of energy but used also for photosynthesis.

Prevention

1. Ensure proper treatment of water for bottle and sachet water

2. Practice and enforce good personal hygiene and good manufacturing practices

3. Avoid exposure to direct sun light, treated water stored away from sun light don't turn green

4. Chlorination after treatment have shown resistance to growth of algae

5. Ozonization of bottled and sachet water too have shown great result in prevention of algae growth during storage, as the ozone sterilized the water

Health Effects
Algae are not known to be poisonous, but, there are some concern about some species of algae that produces toxins, as this toxins when consumed can cause poisoning and sickness.



Mycleanwater Nigeria is a registered business name in Nigeria, we are into water treatment and domestic water treatment plant installation and services

Kindly visit our business site for more information Click Here

To Join Mycleanwater Nigeria WhatsApp Group Click here

For Our Facebook Page Click here

Labels:
Location: Lagos Nigeria Lagos, Nigeria

Comments

Post a Comment

POPULAR POSTS

Heat(Boiling) A Unique Method Of Water Disinfection.

Boiling is the oldest method of household water treatment, and today it's practiced by an estimated 600 million people around the world Boiling of Water Heat, in fact, kills through different mechanisms heat impacts enzymes and causes them to denature and become non functional. It can affect the proteins that make up cells and cause them to unfold and change their shape. And also within a cell it can increase the pressure which damages cells.  We'll look at two broad classes of heat treatment; boiling and pasteurization. To understand how heat disinfection works we have to first think a little bit about temperature and pressure, and recognize that pressure affects the boiling point. If the pressure is higher, then the boiling point can be higher. And in fact, this is how an autoclave works with steam sterilization and high pressure about one bar above atmospheric pressure and that allows water to reach 121 degrees Celsius. And if it's kept there for 15 minutes under steam i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Popular posts from this blog

Iron a Major Secondary Contaminant in Domestic and Industrial Water Supply

Iron is one of the major secondary contaminant in both domestic and industrial water supply. Iron have caused water industries several billions of dollars . Iron is the second most abundant metal in the earth's crust behind Aluminum(8%), of which iron accounts for about 5%. Elemental iron is rarely found in nature, as the iron ions Fe2+ and Fe3+ readily combine with oxygen- and sulfur-containing compounds to form oxides, hydroxides, carbonates, and sulfides. As rain fall, rain water infiltrates the soil and underlying geologic formations and dissolves iron, causing it to seep into aquifers that serve as sources of groundwater for wells. In surface water, such as rivers and lakes, dissolved iron is hardly ever found, because it readily reacts with oxygen, forms insoluble compounds and sinks out into the bottom of the water body. Iron is seldom found at concentrations greater than 10 milligrams per liter (mg/L) or 10 parts per million. The iron that seep into the sources of g...
Post a Comment
Read more

Back Washing Of Water Treatment Modules

Back Washing is a term used in water treatment to describe the process by which trapped or filtered contaminants in water during water treatment process are discharge or remove from the water treatment module. Figure 1 below shows a mini water treatment module, while figure 2 below shows a large pressure water treatment module( A Pressure Sand Filter Tank) Fig. 1. Treatment Module Fig. 2. Large Pressure Water Treatment Module Back Washing is a broad term which have different definition and meaning, but, in context to our lesson, it is best describe as above. Back Washing technically involved passing water in a reverse direction against the normal direction of water flow into and out of our water treatment module, during this reverse process the contaminants that were trapped such as particles, debris, flocs, e.t.c are removed or discharged from our water treatment module either into the  environment or into a waste water treatment plant. Figure 3 shows the back wa...
1 comment
Read more

Heat(Boiling) A Unique Method Of Water Disinfection.

Boiling is the oldest method of household water treatment, and today it's practiced by an estimated 600 million people around the world Boiling of Water Heat, in fact, kills through different mechanisms heat impacts enzymes and causes them to denature and become non functional. It can affect the proteins that make up cells and cause them to unfold and change their shape. And also within a cell it can increase the pressure which damages cells.  We'll look at two broad classes of heat treatment; boiling and pasteurization. To understand how heat disinfection works we have to first think a little bit about temperature and pressure, and recognize that pressure affects the boiling point. If the pressure is higher, then the boiling point can be higher. And in fact, this is how an autoclave works with steam sterilization and high pressure about one bar above atmospheric pressure and that allows water to reach 121 degrees Celsius. And if it's kept there for 15 minutes under steam i...
Post a Comment
Read more

POPULAR POST

Iron a Major Secondary Contaminant in Domestic and Industrial Water Supply

Iron is one of the major secondary contaminant in both domestic and industrial water supply. Iron have caused water industries several billions of dollars . Iron is the second most abundant metal in the earth's crust behind Aluminum(8%), of which iron accounts for about 5%. Elemental iron is rarely found in nature, as the iron ions Fe2+ and Fe3+ readily combine with oxygen- and sulfur-containing compounds to form oxides, hydroxides, carbonates, and sulfides. As rain fall, rain water infiltrates the soil and underlying geologic formations and dissolves iron, causing it to seep into aquifers that serve as sources of groundwater for wells. In surface water, such as rivers and lakes, dissolved iron is hardly ever found, because it readily reacts with oxygen, forms insoluble compounds and sinks out into the bottom of the water body. Iron is seldom found at concentrations greater than 10 milligrams per liter (mg/L) or 10 parts per million. The iron that seep into the sources of g...
Post a Comment
Read more

Water and Water Contaminants

Water is an essential commodity to life. In fact, water is life, and a clean portable water is wealth. No human or animal can survive without water for a very long period of time, no matter the alternative available to such individual. It is believed that about 70% of our body mass is made up of water and also that water occupied most part of the earth than dry land. The availability of water do not mean water will be available for usage, many people live in the mist of water and yet they lack water to drink, not because there is no water but, because the available water is in an undesirable state. In order to solve this problem man devised a means to treat water, to make available water useful. Water treatment employed various methods or techniques to treat water to a desired purpose. These methods or technologies varied from simple method to complex method depending on the desired purpose whether for domestic or industrial or agricultural purpose or otherwise. From time immemor...
Post a Comment
Read more

Back Washing Of Water Treatment Modules

Back Washing is a term used in water treatment to describe the process by which trapped or filtered contaminants in water during water treatment process are discharge or remove from the water treatment module. Figure 1 below shows a mini water treatment module, while figure 2 below shows a large pressure water treatment module( A Pressure Sand Filter Tank) Fig. 1. Treatment Module Fig. 2. Large Pressure Water Treatment Module Back Washing is a broad term which have different definition and meaning, but, in context to our lesson, it is best describe as above. Back Washing technically involved passing water in a reverse direction against the normal direction of water flow into and out of our water treatment module, during this reverse process the contaminants that were trapped such as particles, debris, flocs, e.t.c are removed or discharged from our water treatment module either into the  environment or into a waste water treatment plant. Figure 3 shows the back wa...
1 comment
Read more

Heat(Boiling) A Unique Method Of Water Disinfection.

Boiling is the oldest method of household water treatment, and today it's practiced by an estimated 600 million people around the world Boiling of Water Heat, in fact, kills through different mechanisms heat impacts enzymes and causes them to denature and become non functional. It can affect the proteins that make up cells and cause them to unfold and change their shape. And also within a cell it can increase the pressure which damages cells.  We'll look at two broad classes of heat treatment; boiling and pasteurization. To understand how heat disinfection works we have to first think a little bit about temperature and pressure, and recognize that pressure affects the boiling point. If the pressure is higher, then the boiling point can be higher. And in fact, this is how an autoclave works with steam sterilization and high pressure about one bar above atmospheric pressure and that allows water to reach 121 degrees Celsius. And if it's kept there for 15 minutes under steam i...
Post a Comment
Read more