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pH of Drinking Water

pH of WATER pH of water is one of the fundamental characteristic of water that must not be ignored, pH of water gives us a lot of information about water, in any laboratory analysis of water that do not involve pH is practically incomplete, before we go further we like to look at the definition of pH, what is pH? In chemistry, pH is defined as the scale acidity or alkalinity of a water based solution, pH measures how acidic or how basic a water based solution is, the pH is a scale of 1-14, 1-7 or below 7 is considered acidic while 7-14 or above 7 is considered basic while 7 is considered as neutral. Table top pH meter The formular for pH is pH =-log[H⁺] this mean pH is the negative base 10 logarithm Now that we have known what is pH, let us progress on this topic what is the pH of water? The pH of pure water is 7, neutral, this is ideal for any drinking water, with an acceptable range of 6.5 -8.5 according to WHO and  EPA standard on drinking water. But, ...

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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...

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...

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...

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...