Why outsource when you can insource

Almost 80% of the diseases are water born. Typhoid, jaundice, dysentery, cholera, etc are caused due to consumption of contaminated water. People have started outsourcing water from various companies in the form of water jars for their homes. This is because the scarcity of water is at peak and the water which is available is not suitable for drinking. Government of Nepal fails to supply sufficient water for the citizens and supplied water are not drinkable. Thus, people prefer to use bottled water or jars for drinking.

Now the question arises, whether the bottled waters and jars available in the market are safe from contamination? Water supplying companies of Nepal does not check its purity and just distribute them. People do not have any idea whether the water is pure or not, they just drink it. Visually they seem clean, but as water is a great solvent, we cannot see the particles that have been dissolved with our naked eyes. Pure water should not have any chemicals or ingredients dissolved in it which harms human bodies and we are unknown about how the companies purify the water that are supplied onto our homes.

Impurities are classified into two categories: Physical and chemical. Physical impurities are dust, mud, rust that can be seen with our naked eyes. They can be removed through simple filtration. But, chemical impurities like pesticides, ammonia, arsenic, cannot be seen with our naked eyes and are very hazardous for the health in both long term and short. Kidney stones and other health hazards are the reasons of chemical impurities. These impurities have to be removed through complex filtration. This is where water purifiers need to be used. There are many brands of water purifiers available in the market that use different filtration systems like RO, UV, UF, activated charcoal, etc. These brands assure clean and pure water once the purifiers are used. So why invest in jars and bottled water that you cannot be 100% sure of instead of investing in purifiers that can assure you pure drinking water?

The different types of filtration systems used in water filters have their own procedure of purifying water. Some of the trusted ones are described below:

Ultrafiltration is filtration of water where water is passed through a very fine medium that traps particles in water. What differ ultrafiltration from filtration is the size of the holes in the medium. The finer or smaller the holes are the better the water quality is.

Reverse osmosis (RO) is simple to understand. Imagine in a container, water and a salt solution separated by a semi-permeable membrane that only allows movement of water molecules through it. The water from low concentration to high i.e. the pure water will move to the salt solution effortlessly due to osmotic pressure. In reverse osmosis, we introduce enough pressure on the salt solution that the water from the solution moves to the pure water side through the membrane. In essence, Reverse osmosis involve forcing water molecules through a semi-permeable membrane under pressure.

 UV or ultraviolet rays are harmful to all living being especially bacteria. They can denature proteins and DNA causing bacteria to die. In the commonly found filters, water is passed through a UV chamber where UV rays are produced removing such biological contaminants. 

Ion exchange is responsible for removing heavy metals in water which are considered harmful. Metals like arsenic and mercury are trapped in the ion exchange chamber being replaced by harmless metal ions. Ion exchange usually contains beads or medium rich in sodium ion. When water passes through it they trap other metal ions and release sodium in their stead. This is also very effective for softening the water.

Activated charcoal, which under medical setting is administered for most cases of poisoning, traps different harmful chemicals which may include pesticides and other pollutants by adsorption. Activated charcoal also known as activated carbon is derived from coal or coke. It is very porous in nature and provides a large surface area for chemical to get adsorbed into it. Adsorption is the adhesion of molecules in to a surface.