What is drinking water and its characteristics

Although three quarters of the planet are formed by water, Not all water is drinkable or it can be drink by human beings. Drinking water can only be fresh water. Only 2.5% of all the water that exists on Earth is fresh water. Fresh water is distributed as follows, almost 70% of fresh water is frozen in the poles, 30% is found as moisture in the soil or forming aquifers and only 1% run through the hydrographic basins forming rivers and streams. Now, Only 0.025% is drinking waterbut what does it mean that water is drinking?

Drinking water is that which is suitable for human consumption And that does not imply any risk to your health, that is, it is free of microorganisms and toxic substances. Normally the water we drink and that is in our homes does not come directly from nature, but has been previously treated.

Water is a renewable but limited resource, it is increasingly scarce and there are many populations in the world that still lack without access to drinking water sources. World Organizations such as UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) have focused on a large part of their efforts to fight for accessibility to drinking water sources due to their direct relationship with health.

According to what is established, the WHO, the Access to drinking water It exists when the closest source is less than 1 km away and also when possible extract or get at least 20 liters of water per day for each family component.

For water to be considered as drinking water, a series of characteristics must meet. These characteristics are normally established in the legislation and the countries must comply with it. In the case of Spain the Potable water characteristics They are regulated by Royal Decree 140/2003, of February 7, which establishes the health criteria of the quality of human consumption. Depending on what establishes WHOdrinking water:

• It must be clean and safe: both its consumption and its use in the production of other foods cannot lead to any risk of contracting infectious diseases or other diseases (cholera, typhus, salmonellosis or methemoglobinemia).
• It must be colorless: This implies that water should be transparent, although sometimes it can be a bit whitish due to chlorine.
• It must be toilet: That is, it should not have smell since it should have nothing that can generate it.
• It must be tasteless: As in the previous case I should not have any flavor.
• Free of suspension elements: Water should have nothing that can generate turbidity. In some cases it may be a bit translucent, but it may be due to the pressure of the pipes and should disappear soon.
• You should not have organic pollutants such as pesticides (DDT, for example), or other inorganic pollutants (heavy metals), nor any radioactive element.
• Must have a certain proportion of gases and salts dissolved inorganic.
• It should not contain pathogenic microorganisms They endanger health. For this, exhaustive analysis of the concentration of coliform bacteria and others of fecal origin are carried out. The legislation establishes that there can be no bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterococcus faecalis, Clostridium Perfringens and others that can cause serious gastrointestinal infections and other disorders. Nor can more than 100 colon -forming units (UFC) of total aerobic bacteria be found

As mentioned above, water has to go through a series of treatments, which known as water treatment process. This occurs in Water water treatment plants or ETAP. Through this process, the “raw” water, named to natural water, is purified and purified. In addition, this process ensures that there is a public network of drinking water distribution so that it is accessible to all homes and consumers.

He Water purification process It focuses on several treatments:

• Water collection from natural water sources such as rivers, lakes or reservoirs: It is usually performed by a set of electric pumps that collect the water. During the transport of water this is leaked by a series of bars of different sizes that are retaining solids.
• Coagulation/flocculation: Many solids can be eliminated by forming flocculus, clots or lumps. This treatment manages to eliminate algae and plankton, as well as other chemical substances and products that are used in this phase and that can cause smell and flavor.
• Sedimentation: It consists of the elimination of flocs through the action of gravity.
• Filtration: Water passes through a filter or a porous (sand, coal) to reduce the possible turbidity of the water and cysts of parasitic organisms. Learn more about this in this other ecology article about what is the sedimentation of drinking water.
• Disinfection: It consists of the elimination of the pathogenic microorganisms of water. In this step the water treatment process is completed. For disinfection, chemical processes such as the addition of chlorine or ozone among others, or by physical processes such as ultraviolet light can be carried out.

When it is not possible to find drinking water and you have to resort to Drink water from other sourcesthe most affordable and that best works is Boil the water before consuming it. This method at least ensures the elimination of the pathogenic microorganisms that may be in water, such as bacteria and viruses.

In this other post of ecology, we explain more about how water is purified.

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