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Qualities That Water Must Have to Be Drinkable

When you run your tap for a glass of water, you may not consider how important it is to have clean drinking water. While the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, changes its standards for healthy drinking water, some qualities of healthy drinking water are universal.

  1. Freedom from Debris

    • Not only does debris pose a choking hazard, but it can also affect your water in different ways. Debris can carry unsanitary bacteria into the water and affect the taste, making water unpleasant and dangerous to drink. Your water should be clear of any debris such as sand, rocks, leaves and other substances. Run the water through a fine mesh to ensure you remove the larger debris. Run it through paper afterwards to remove the finer debris.

    Freedom from Harmful Bacteria

    • The danger hasn’t passed even if the water looks clear and refreshing. Bacteria, unnoticed invisible to the naked eye, can lead to some serious health complications. Drinkable water has to be free of bacteria that can cause illnesses. Boiling the water for at least one minute at a roiling boil kills the bacteria in the water. Allow it to cool before drinking it. Boiling won’t fix cloudy water, so make sure it’s properly filtered beforehand.

    Pleasant Taste

    • If water tastes bad, there’s less chance that you will drink enough of it to maintain a healthy level of hydration. While a bitter, unpleasant taste isn’t necessarily harmful to your health, it is incredibly harmful to your willingness to drink the liquid. Some reasons for a foul taste could be an excess of minerals in the water or a surplus of other harmless materials in the liquid. A home-filtration device for your faucet can remove the unpleasant taste.

    Other Qualities

    • Other factors that affect water quality can include mineral content, level of alkalinity and antioxidant content, as well as freedom from synthetic chemicals. People vary in their levels of sensitivity. While these factors may not be considered by the EPA when setting water-quality standards, they may still be important factors for individuals when choosing a water source.

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