Clean Drinking Water with Municipal Water Treatment
We’ve seen the pictures of people in undeveloped countries drinking from contaminated streams and heard about the high instance of disease epidemics that devastate those countries. Living the way we do in the U.S., it’s hard to realize that anyone in the world doesn’t know the connection between polluted water and disease, but they either are clueless or can’t correct the conditions. What many of us don’t realize is that only 2 centuries ago, most of America had the same problems, and diseases spread in our country just like they do in other nations in today’s world. People didn’t realize what was taking place, and even if they did, the technology wasn’t yet in place to operate countrywide municipal water treatment systems.
Actual water filtration originated in Scotland in the 16th century. Scotland was a part of the world back then that was full of scientists and philosophers that became known as the Scottish Enlightenment, so it wasn’t any surprise that they were able to realize the importance of clean, pathogen-free drinking water and to then create a way to clean existing water sources. During the Scottish Enlightenment period, a Scottish scientist and engineer, Robert Thom, designed the first municipal water treatment facility. He used a method called slow sand filters and was able to make clean, disease-free water for an entire town.
Since the eighteenth century, municipal water treatment systems have been redesigned and improved as a means to provide safe water for citizens in some of the biggest urban areas on the globe. Drinking water is taken from two different sources: groundwater and surface water. About 95% of all the water we drink comes from groundwater sources. Toxins run into this groundwater and must subsequently be filtered out before the water will be sanitized for consumption. Groundwater also is filled with bacteria and other contaminants that are fed to it from surface water.
The human body is about two-thirds made up of water, and we must continuously replenish the water reserves in our bodies if we want to stay in good health. Therefore, it is crucial that we have ready sources of clean drinking water. That’s where municipal water treatment plants have made a real difference in the lifestyles we lead. We in America no longer have to think about coming down with serious diseases from drinking the water that flows out of our water faucets, and we have access to all the fresh water we could possibly use. Now we need to endeavor to provide clean water to people around the world.
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Posted July 2, 2009
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