How to Purify & Treat Water With the Latest Technology

Water-treatment technology has come a long way in recent years. It is no longer necessary to pour smelly and unpleasant-tasting chlorine into your water supply or to boil water before drinking it. Modern filtration and purification technologies can remove many of the common contaminants when tap water is processed at the local distribution point or at the entry to the home with small home systems. The two types of technology should be used together; filtration will remove organic matter and murkiness from the water, while purification kills harmful microorganisms.

Things You'll Need

• Ultraviolet water purifier
• Activated carbon filter
• Ozone water treatment system

Show More

Instructions

• 1

  Filter the water through an activated carbon filter. These types of filter are particularly good at removing organic compounds from the water, which is not a strength of older reverse-osmosis systems. These are the compounds that make water smell and taste unpleasant. There are two basic types of activated carbon filter: granular and solid-block. The solid-block type, in which water is forced through tiny pores in a block of carbon, has a better chance of trapping contaminants than other filters.

• 2

  Pass the filtered water through an ultraviolet purification system. These systems use ultraviolet lamps to destroy harmful microorganisms in the water. They require clear water to work properly, making it important that they are installed downstream from a filter system. The ultraviolet bulb in these systems must be changed regularly to keep them working, and water purified by UV should not be stored for long. They don't, however, add any chemicals to the water.

• 3

  Add ozone (a gas made of three oxygen atoms) to the water. Ozone-based purification systems create ozone from oxygen by shocking it with electricity or by electrolysis. Once added to the water, ozone is a powerful oxidizer and disinfectant that will kill microorganisms, remove minerals and the organic materials that cause unpleasant taste and smell. It then dissipates. It leaves no taste or smell behind. The ozone must be well mixed into the water to effectively purify it. These systems are often used in combination with activated carbon filters to achieve maximum purity.