The first thing we all do after reaching home is drink a glass of water. In fact, many of us might be drinking tap water. It might appear clean to the sight, but do you know it may be mixed with something else? Well, look closely. Rivers, lakes and ground water (wells and borewells) are the major water sources from where water is supplied to your home. River water contains salts in it, because river rocks discharge excess amounts of it into the flowing water, whereas ground water contains high amounts of calcium and magnesium. When municipalities supply water to households, this water may get mixed with harmful elements on its way through water tanks and pipes. In some places, municipalities treat water before supplying it to households, but that doesn’t mean it is free from contaminants.
As we all know, drinking unclean water can lead to serious health problems. If not treated immediately, they can turn into very severe illnesses like typhoid and cholera. Pure water is colourless and odourless, which is easy to identify with its colour and lack of smell. But, you can’t rely on these techniques always. So, where health is concerned, it is always advisable to test water at accredited laboratories nearby. By doing this, you can get a number of total dissolved salts (TDS) and pH levels, determining the purity of the water.
Water contains lots of dissolved salts and minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium and many other harmful elements. These solids get dissolved into water through natural sources and human interventions, further affecting its taste. However, a low concentration of these solids in water aren’t actually harmful, because your body needs them to function. It is harmful when it gets mixed with other elements or heavy-metal impurities like arsenic, nitrates and lead. These dissolved impurities can come from the fertilizers used for farming, industrial waste water and sewages disposed into water bodies.
In a study by the World Health Organization, these are the preferable levels of TDS safe for drinking.
The report also suggests that water with a low TDS concentration level may not be good for health. If consumed daily, it is harmful. High TDS values are also an indicator of water including heavy metal impurities like iron, sulphate and arsenic. It also makes the water hard, affecting its taste. You’ll also notice that soaps and detergents do not form lather in hard water, while utensils leave behind a white film on them. Hard water also corrodes pipes and other water systems over a period.
Boiling water is one of the safest methods to get rid of germs and bacteria, but it doesn’t remove impurities from it. For example, well water contains dissolved chemicals like arsenic that has no smell or taste, but it is bad for health. To make sure your family drinks clean water, rely on a water purifier. For places where there is a hard water supply, purifiers with reverse osmosis (RO) purification methods should be considered. Before you buy, get the water quality tested and decide on the capacity (litres) your family needs. If you are outdoors, one of the safest options is to carry bottled mineral water, but make sure these bottles are properly sealed before you buy them.
In addition to removing impurities, water purifiers also maintain the pH level of the water. It measures the acidity or alkalinity of the water you drink since it’s equally important to stay healthy. Many of us may not be aware of the importance of maintaining the pH level in the drinking water. The pH range is 0 to 14 with everything below 7 (neutral levels) is acidic, whereas anything higher than 7 is alkaline. Typically, surface water has a pH level between 6.5 and 8.5, whereas ground water is between 6 and 8.5.
Though pH levels keep changing, drinking water with levels between 7 and 8 are preferable. Water can turn acidic if it is contaminated. On drinking such acidic water, your stomach produces excess acids causing indigestion. It can also cause tooth decay and other health-related issues. So, it is equally important to check both, the TDS and pH levels of the water. There are many portable kits available at low prices to measure the pH and TDS levels of the water. If any of these values are high or low, it’s an early warning for you to take immediate action and get home a water purifier. They are more effective than traditional water purifying methods, helping remove germs, dissolved solids and other impurities from the water. So, the next time you return home tired, make sure you drink a glass of truly clean and pure water.
