We take water for granted because we live in a place where we get municipal water supplied to us. For developing countries, finding a supply of good pure water may be a challenge. There are also about 3.4 million deaths each year due to water related diseases. The water supply system that gets you clean water today goes through a complicated process of recycling and purifying water and feeding it back in the system. Many countries of the world do not have such complicated purification systems, and they get most of their water from underground. Some areas depend on tube wells, wells, ponds, and rivers as their source of drinking water.

Is the water you drink safe?

The water we get from Water Supply Company goes through a series of purification process. Water is supplied from both, surface water, collected from rivers and lakes, and ground water pumped from underground. There water purifying facilities to treat all the water and make it safe for drinking before it is supplied in our homes. Most of the time, ground water is not treated because it does not contain any germs or impurities. You can visit, CDC’s Public Water Systems page. For more information on how public water systems treat water, visit CDC’s Water Treatment page.

Don’t take water supply for granted

We often forget how important water is and how easily we get supply of fresh water every day without running into any problems. We get fresh supply water every day and do not think about it. We have access to bottled water and water fountains whenever we get thirsty. But as described earlier, many of the countries of the world do not have the technology or do not have efficient municipal services that supplies them pure water every day, continuously. For example, a power shortage could mean water shortage as well because the pumps that put water into circulation would not work.

Water goes through a series of processes before being supplied, and some of these processes are often delicate. A power shortage or blackout could shut down all the purification plants and water pumps here in the USA as well.

A natural disaster such as flood, hurricane, earthquake, and such could damage your water supply system, breaking the water pipes or contaminating your sewage systems, if it causes breaks in your water line or sewage line.

A water supply system can fail at any emergency situation. For much reason, the quality of supply water may become contaminated and you might need to take some measures to make it safe. If your water supply fails, and you cannot find pure water around you or if you suspect that your supply water is contaminated due to a disaster, you should learn about ways to make water safe for drinking. You need to ask yourself what your chances of survival will be if any natural disaster happens and it cuts of one of your viral necessities such as food and water.

How to make water safe for drinking

To make sure the water you use after a disaster is safe for drinking. You can maximize the safety of the water you drink by following some of the water purification methods that we will discuss below. No one method can guarantee you of 100% pure water, but if combined, some of these methods could easily improve the quality of water that you drink. There are thousands of water purification processes that can be used.

Ways to purify water:

• Boil: Boiling water kills bacteria, viruses, parasites, and most germs in it.
• Distill: distillation is the best method to purify any kind of water. But you probably don’t have an apparatus for distillation.
• Use purification tablets
• Use ultraviolet rays: some water purification devices use ultraviolet rays to kill germs in water.
• Filter through ceramics
• Filthier through plastic membranes
• Filter through bio sand filter
• Disinfect with chemicals such as chlorine or iodine: adding iodine or chlorine will kill germs in water

If there is any chance of your drinking water being contaminated with your sewage water, boil your water and do not drink it or brush your teeth with it. Surface water is collected from Ponds River or other places, it should be filtered with a coffee filter or such to take out impurities first, and then bring to a rolling boil, keep it rolling for a minute and then pour it in a clean container. Rain water, if collected in a clean bucket can be safe to drink.

If you find that using chlorine or bleach would be easier for you to kill the germs from water, you will need to mix a gallon of water with 1/8 teaspoon of pure, unaccented chlorine or bleach, wait for 30 minutes before drinking. If the water appears cloudy, do not drink it, and be careful not to overuse bleach or chlorine, because it will become toxic.

You can also buy water purification devices and keep it at home in case you need it for an emergency. There are filtration devices available in the market. You will also need to disinfect some containers for storing water. These water purification techniques could be your life saver or could save someone from being sick.

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Source: Environmental Professionals Network.