The deteriorating drinking water quality is a grave matter of concern across the globe. Widespread water contamination is a result of industrial effluents, deforestation, excessive use of pesticides, improper waste disposal methods and several other factors. All of these factors have led to the contamination of drinking water reserves.
Consequently, the water that flows from your taps may contain several contaminants that could affect your health adversely. In order to make you understand the gravity of the situation, here are some of the most common toxins and impurities that contaminate drinking water:
Heavy metals (Lead & Mercury)
The presence of heavy metals such as lead and mercury in drinking water can be fatal. Although they are naturally occurring elements, they can be extremely toxic. Lead is released in water due to old corroded water pipes.
On the other hand, mercury is released into the air by industries such as thermal power plants and it falls to the earth through rain or snow. If ingested, these heavy metals can cause severe health problems and even death.
Pharmaceutical Drugs
When pharmaceutical drugs are inefficiently processed by the body, they are eliminated through urine. Hence these drugs end up in water resources through the drainage systems. Recent government studies show that more than 80% of the water resources that were tested had traces of pharmaceutical drugs.
Pesticides and Herbicides
Pesticides and herbicides are used by farmers to kill the pests that damage crops. However, the excess pesticides seep into the soil or run off into rivers and lakes during rains.
If ingested, these pesticides can wreak havoc on your body. Certain pesticides have also been linked to several types of cancer. Insecticides such as DDT can cause reproductive issues and liver problems.
Chlorine
Chlorine is the most commonly used chemical to disinfect water. However, when used excessively, chlorine can harm your health. Being a reactive chemical, chlorine may form toxic byproducts dichloramine and trichloramine which can interfere with your normal bodily functions.
Industrial Effluents
Industrial chemicals are the most toxic effluents that contaminate water. Many of the industries release toxic waste directly into natural water resources without treating them. The industrial waste contains several toxic compounds cause fatal effects on your body.
Given the presence of these deadly toxins, water purification has become the need of the hour. Just removing the sediments or boiling the water is not enough to obtain clean drinking water.
There may be many dissolved impurities that need to be removed with specialized filtration systems. Water filters that purify water using Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology are the best water filters available in the market today.
Other water purification methods such as UV filtration and boiling cannot remove the dissolved toxins in the water. Whereas an RO purifier removes 98% of dissolved impurities from the water. Therefore, if you want to be assured about the quality of your drinking water, installing an RO water purifier is your best option.
