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Boiling, distilling, and purifying - What’s your safest option

by Ishita Sharma Executive
Despite the fact that people all over the world depend on water for sustenance, not everyone is aware of the quality of water they drink. Water, being a good solvent, comes loaded with a lot of contaminants, like dirt, dissolved salts, chemicals, microbes, and what not. Unawareness can come at a heavy price, for instance, in the form of water-borne diseases like cholera, dysentery, and gastroenteritis.

To protect oneself and one’s family from water contamination and other water-related ailments, people must know the major differences between the many purification methods.

Mentioned below are three popular forms of water purification, that you need to know about –

Boiling water

Boiling water is an easy and time-saving technique of making water safe for drinking. Heating water to temperatures as high as 100˚C is known to kill off any bacteria, virus, or other types of microbes found in water. It also frees water of any volatile organic compounds that may be present in it. This technique has been used in numerous homes across the world, for several centuries in the past. Old as it is, this technique is used in the present too, when no better method of purifying water is available.

However, the biggest disadvantage of boiling water to purify it is that this process does not eliminate chemical contaminants in water. Underground water can contain dissolved chemicals, such as pesticides, mercury and lead and these are fatal when consumed.

Therefore, boiling water is definitely not the safest way of water purification on which people can depend.

Distilling water

Distillation is another technique of water purification. It is a more detailed process and therefore, is also rather expensive. One difference between the two processes is that distillation requires a specific apparatus for being carried out, which is why it is not something that households take to for purifying water.

Distillation is carried out in laboratories with the use of a distillation chamber, in which water is boiled at high temperatures until it converts into steam. This steam is then collected in a different section of the apparatus, where it is cooled and converted into water. The water thus obtained is free of any taste, smell or color, meaning it is pure.

Other than the fact that distillation cannot be carried out at homes, it also has another big disadvantage. Water in its natural form also contains minerals which aid our bodies in various ways, all of which are lost when the water is distillated.

Purifying water

Purification of water, although a generic term, here essentially refers to making water safe for consumption through various multi-stage methods. This process generally involves techniques such as boiling, activated carbon adsorption, reverse osmosis, desalination, chemical oxidation, and so on. This kind of water treatment was initially industry-based, but thanks to health care product brands in India, water purification technologies have now reached homes.

Most of the water purifiers available today come with advanced RO/UV/UF technologies which ensure complete water purification. But what actually makes them more preferred over other methods is that they also retain the essential minerals, thus making the water not only healthy and safe but also tasty.

One can browse through many types and sizes of purifiers, along with checking the water purifier prices in India, making it easy for them to choose a suitable water purifier model.

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About Ishita Sharma Freshman   Executive

11 connections, 0 recommendations, 34 honor points.
Joined APSense since, January 17th, 2017, From New Delhi, India.

Created on Dec 22nd 2017 00:48. Viewed 779 times.

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