With the way things seem to be going on planet Earth, one of the greatest fears people have, aside from wondering whether or not we have enough water, is how polluted is the water?
You may be wondering how water gets polluted in the first place. Where does the pollution come from? In most instances there are usually two types of pollution sources – the non-point source and the point source. Not to confuse anyone here, the non-point source generally comes about as a result of runoff directly spilling pollutants into a water source. If you are thinking things like herbicides, pesticides and other chemicals, you’d be right on the money.
On the other hand the point source would be considered to be the result of a broken pipe, underground line, or ruptured sewage tank leak. If we’re dealing with a sewage/manure leak or spill, this is referred to as organic pollution. These types of pollutants are mostly found emanating from large agricultural operations.
The fecal matter ambushes the water and sucks the oxygen right out of the water, due to the high levels of nitrogen and phosphates. The results are dead plants and fish. Obviously this is not water you would care to drink.
Another source of water pollution, also causing depleted levels of oxygen in water near the source, is thermal pollution. What happens here is the power plant or other facility (even a drug manufacturing plant) uses water as a coolant for their operations. The water returns to the source hotter than when it was used, which affects oxygen levels with the same results as organic pollution – dead fish and plants.
Ecological pollution, call this Mother Nature pulling a fast one, results from natural disasters like landslides or a volcanic eruption. It could even be something as simple as a dead animal left floating in the water. Again, this is not water you would want to drink. As you may gather, the sources of water pollution are endless, and most of these things we do not have any control over -or do we?
We do have control over our drinking water and control over making it the purest, freshest water for our own health and welfare. This is achieved by water distillation; the only process that will ensure the water is clean and safe to drink. No other water purification method is as effective as distillation.
Larry Wardell is with H2olabs.com, a provider of water distillers and water distillation systems. To learn more about water distillers, water distillation systems, water purification systems, visit H2olabs.com.
