Access to clean potable water is a burden that falls on the shoulders of an entire society. That is why there are ongoing efforts to safeguard community water sources from contaminants. Community water systems have surface water treatment methods that include coagulation, filtration, and disinfection. These are critical steps that guarantee safe drinking water for households in the community.
Additionally, households are doing their respective parts in the overall scheme to ensure ready access to safe potable water. These household-level initiatives involve boiling water, adding disinfectants such as chlorine and iodine, and installing filtration systems. While they have essentially added some efforts on the homeowners’ end, the fact that they prevent water-borne diseases attests to how worthwhile they are, especially in avoiding biological dangers in water sources.
Now, if you’re wondering how you can keep water safe in your household, there are some easy steps that you can take. Take a quick read of these six ways that you can do to ensure clean water in your household:
- Install a water softening device. A water softener is among the best investments that you can have for your home when it comes to keeping your drinking water safe. A water softening system is essential in producing water that helps ensure spot-free dishes, eliminates scale buildups on faucets and shower stalls, and prolongs appliances that use water from the tap. Modern water softeners have great features such as metered and counter-current regeneration, soft water rinsing, and round-the-clock tanks.
- Boil water. For homeowners without the money to spend on expensive water filters or water softening system, boiling the water that comes out of their taps is the way to go. Heating water up to 212 degrees for one to two minutes is enough to kill disease-causing parasites, viruses, and bacteria that abound in water. While the taste gets somewhat altered, boiling water is an inexpensive, yet effective way of giving your family safe drinking water. Take note that no less than the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) assured the public that boiling water is the most effective way of killing micro-organisms that cause diseases such as diarrhea.
- Use a water purifier. If you happen to have spare money lying around, you can invest in a water purifier that uses UV light to kill water-borne contaminants and disease-causing organisms. While water that comes out of your tap has undergone filtration at the source, you can never be 100 percent that it won’t be contaminated along the line. If you don’t want to leave things to chances, then you should get a good-quality water purification filter or UV light water purifier. These devices would be worth your money as they would act as your guard against any water impurities that could harm your family.
- Put chlorine or iodine solution. Many homeowners are unaware that household bleach and iodine are excellent in purifying drinking water. However, you should be 100 percent sure about the ratio of water-bleach that you’re using to avoid water poisoning. For example, you should add ⅛ teaspoon (8 drops) worth of unscented house bleach to 16 cups or 1 gallon of water. You should also mix the bleach and water solution thoroughly and let it sit for 30 minutes or longer if desired. Once done, you can now enjoy the disinfected water. This is highly recommended following hurricanes when the water coming out of taps cannot be ascertained to be 100 percent safe for human consumption.
- Hire a professional plumber. Over time, your plumbing system could suffer from leaks or get damaged somewhere. When such a thing happens in the pipes or plumbing system, it could compromise the cleanliness of water coming into the taps. If you discovered any type of damage or leak in your plumbing, you should quickly call in a professional plumber to fix the issue that you found. By doing this, you can avoid contamination of water that comes out of your faucets. You could also do something better than this, which is hiring a plumber to perform periodic maintenance and inspection of your plumbing system so proactive actions can be done.
- SODIS. SODIS stands for solar disinfection, which is simply the process of exposing water to the sun for an extended time. In this method, the heat from the sun serves as nature’s own water disinfection system. With SODIS, you won’t have to spend anything just to make your drinking water relatively safe, especially during cases when traditional filtration devices won’t work such as following disasters or when there’s a power outage.
Just follow these six ways and you’re sure to keep your drinking water safe for your family’s consumption.