Sources and Types of water

SOURCES AND TYPES OF WATER

In the Earth’s biosphere, water is essential to all forms of life. Interestingly, it is also the biospheres most abundant compound and a unique substance from the chemical point of view.

About 75% of the Earth’s surface consists of water. Water is present as either (a) Solid – ice, snow etc., (b) Liquid – water in the lakes, rivers and oceans etc., (c) Water vapour – as clouds or moisture in the air.

The Human body contains as much as 70% water and all animals and vegetable matter contain water; plants contain up to 50-70% of water.

Of the total estimated global water supply of 1.4 x 10⁹km³, fresh water sources amount to only 2.7% of the total. Most fresh water is not readily available, being under the ground, or in the form of glaciers and frozen lakes. The fraction of water available for human civilization is estimated at less than 0.003% of the total global water availability. Aquatic marine life in oceans, seas and other saline inland water bodies, enjoy 97.3% of the total global supply of water supply.

Hard Water

1. Hard Water. This is saturated with calcium, iron, magnesium, and many other inorganic minerals. All water in lakes, rivers, on the ground, in deep wells, is classified as hard water. (Many city systems take water from rivers or lakes, or reservoirs supplied with mountain water; they erroneously call their supplies “soft water” but it is soft only in comparison with water which is harder.)

Boiled Water

2. Boiled Water. Boiling helps remove some of the germs, but concentrates the inorganic minerals. Other germs are carried into a fertile element for rapid and lusty propagation of germs and viruses already in the body.

Raw Water

3. Raw Water. This has not been boiled. Raw water may be hard (as calcium hardened water) or soft as rain water. It contains millions of germs and viruses. In every densely inhabited drop. Some of these viruses and bacteria may adversely affect the thyroid gland, the liver and other vital body organs.

Rain Water

4. Rain Water. This has been condensed from the clouds. The first drop is distilled water. But when it falls as rain, it picks up germs, dust, smoke, minerals, strontium 90, lead and many other atmospheric chemicals. By the time rain water reaches the earth it is so saturated with dust and pollutants it may be yellowish in color. Water is supposed to act as an atmosphere purifier. If we had no air pollution, we would have far less pollution in our drinking water.

Snow Water

5. Snow Water. This is frozen rain. Freezing does not eliminate any germs. All snowflakes have hardened mineral deposits. Melt the cleanest snow and you will find it saturated with dirt, inorganic minerals, germs and viruses.

Filtered Water

6. Filtered Water. This water has passed through a fine strainer, called a filter. Some calcium and other solid substances are kept in the filter; there is no filter made which can prevent germs from passing through its fine meshes. Each pore of the finest filter is large enough for a million viruses to seep through in a few moments. A home filter usually only picks up suspended solids and is effective for the time, maybe only for hours, until it is filled up. Then it is ineffective even for removing suspended solids, and at the same time becomes a breeding ground for bacteria.

Soft Water

7. Soft Water. This water is soft in comparison with water which is harder. It may contain many trace minerals and chemicals, viruses and bacteria. It is not to be confused with “softened water.” Soft water may be classified as water which is harder than distilled water.

Reverse Osmosis

8. Reverse Osmosis. This is a system of water purification which allows pre-filtered water to be forced through a semi-permeable membrane to separate impurities from our drinking water. However, this membrane allows only certain molecules to pass through providing the water pressure is exactly constant. The matter of water pressure is a problem still to be solved. Furthermore, the membrane also allows some iron and nitrate molecules to pass through. Another problem to be solved.

But it now seems promising that we can look forward to tremendous strides in this system of water purification. Gulf Oil, Culligan and Eastman Kodak are sponsoring vast research in this area. High purity water between 90 and 97 percent of the dissolved mineral (and organic solutions), and over 99 percent of the suspended and colloidal particles are rejected by, the special membrane which has been developed for this process by these companies in their research. The product water, from this new research, is ultra-clear, low in dissolved solids, practically free from hardness components and essentially sterile as produced. This makes a close second to distilled water.

De-ionized Water

9. De-ionized Water. A process of exchanging “hard” ions for “soft.” The total ions are still present. The end result is the same. But the water has the appearance of being distilled. (Nature recognizes transformation but not extinction!) Since water leaving the sodium-cation exchanger has little hardness, it contains sodium salts.

Distilled Water

10. Distilled Water. This is water that has first been turned into steam so that all of its impurities are left behind. Then through condensation, it is turned back into pure water. It is the only pure water. The only water free from all contamination. Distilled water may well be considered the only pure water on earth.