Choices of Water Treatment Methods for Contaminated Drinking Water

Water treatment equipment choices, pros and cons of each water purification method
- Water treatment methods for contamination, bacteria, lead, minerals, etc.
- Water treatment choices for odors, smells, sediment, cloudiness
- Water treatment methods for hardness & mineral content
- Choices of types of water treatment equipment
DRINKING WATER - EMERGENCY PURIFICATION - separate article
Questions & Answers about which type of water conditioner system, water treatment system, or water purifier system you should install - how to choose a residential drinking water treatment method and system
References

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This article describes the various options for correcting unsanitary or unsatisfactory drinking water. Various water treatment methods for contaminated water are reviewed and the pros and cons of each are discussed.This series of articles explains many common water contamination tests for bacteria and other contaminants in water samples. We describe what to do about contaminated water, listing common corrective measures when water test results are unsatisfactory.

Water Treatment for Contamination, Hardness, Odors, Sediment, Etc: choices of systems, recommendations

Our list of water treatment articles is at the end of this page. Here we discuss water treatment methods and we also include water testing and water correction measures warnings for home owners and especially for home buyers when certain conditions are encountered, with advice about what to do when these circumstances are encountered.

If you are looking for portable or emergency use water purification methods, see DRINKING WATER - EMERGENCY PURIFICATION for a discussion of various methods used to purify water for hiking, campling, and emergency use as well.

While we distinguish between having to treat water because it is not potable, and wanting to treat drinking water because of an aesthetic concern like odor, taste, smell, or staining, it is often the case that the equipment used for one purpose can also address the second set of concerns.

Here we are discussing water treatment, not water testing. See WATER TEST CHOICES & WATER TEST FEES for choices of water tests and our advice about choosing among them.

If community or private wells are back in operating and providing water, do not assume that the water is sanitary and ok to drink until responsible authorities have said so. Even then, local water pipes in a building may be unsanitary and additional cleaning or disinfection may be needed. See WELL CHLORINATION SHOCKING PROCEDURE and See WATER TESTS, CONTAMINANTS, TREATMENT for advice on using a private well for drinking water.

When is it reasonable, desirable, or actually necessary to install water treatment equipment:

time does not permit thorough diagnosis and determination of the source of water contaminants (you have to move in and drink the water, or the bank won't issue the mortgage for a property purchase)
water potability appears to be unreliable: a bacteria problem may have been temporarily masked or "corrected" by "shocking" the well in the past but follow-up testing suggests that it returns, perhaps seasonally as water tables change. See "When and How to Shock or Chlorinate a Well - Procedure for Shocking a Well to (temporarily or maybe longer) "Correct" Bacterial Contamination".
There is a persistent source of water contamination - a potability or health issue
There is a persistent source of an aesthetic water problem: hard water, sulphur odors (rotten eggs), iron, or other such contaminants.
When people in a residence are at unusual health vulnerability: immune impaired, elderly, sick.

Pros/Cons: Advantages and Problems with Various Types of Water Treatment Equipment for Bacterial or Bacteriological Contamination

Water Filters as Purifiers (introduction) and Filters for Drinking Water Purification (details including portable ceramic water filters, silver ceramic filters, magnetic (bogus) water purifiers, paper and polypropylene water filters, etc. )
UV -ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT TREATMENT as a Water Purifier
REVERSE OSMOSIS WATER TREATMENT Systems for Water Purification
CHLORINATORS & CHARCOAL FILTERS for Water Purification
Aesthetic water contaminants and treatment systems: sediment, iron, odors, taste
WATER SOFTENERS & CONDITIONERS for correcting "hard" water - clogs pipes, poor washing & bathing, mineral deposits, reduced hot water output from water heaters and tankless coils
Sediment filters and Iron filters to reduce red iron stains on fixtures & clothing
Sulphur odor filters or Sulphur Treatment Systems - get rid of that "rotten egg" smell
WATER TREATMENT CHEMICAL SAFETY Warnings

Water Filters as Purifiers

Water filters are great for removing sediment or odors - aesthetic considerations. But we suspect any mechanical or charcoal water filter is either unreliable or short-lived. OPINION: For pathogens or bacteria this is a poor choice of water treatment. We discuss water filters for sediment and odors below.

See WATER FILTERS for details about water filter installation, use, and maintenance. Also see the following related articles:

WATER FILTERS - details about water filter installation, use, and maintenance, including ceramic water filters and other types
Sediment filters and Iron filters
Sulphur odor filters or Sulphur Treatment Systems
ODORS in WATER - TYPES, CAUSES how to identify the source and cure the cause of odors in water
WATER SOFTENERS & CONDITIONERS for removing minerals in "hard" water

Water Treatment Chemical Safety Warnings

Drinking water should be tested periodically, at least annually, especially if there is a known contamination issue - to make sure that the well has remained sanitary, or to make sure that the treatment equipment is working properly. Perhaps also to get lucky and find that treatment is no longer needed.

A minimum test is to collect a sample of treated water for this purpose. IF you also test water collected ahead of the treatment system you can confirm what treatment is needed.

Water treatment chemicals can be highly toxic or caustic and should be kept out of reach of children.

List of Principal Methods Used to Purify Contaminated Drinking Water when Camping or in an Emergency

Boil the water to make it suitable for drinking. See Boiling Water for Drinking.
Bleach: Use chlorine (bleach, sodium hypochlorite) to purify the water. (see warnings just above). See Bleach as a Disinfectant for Drinking Water. Permanent well water chlorination systems are discussed at CHLORINATORS & CHARCOAL FILTERS.
Ceramic water filters - see Filters for Drinking Water Purification
Chlorination: where electrical power and water pressure are present and the equipment is already installed, a chlorinator or water chlorine injection treatment system, usually combined with a charcoal filter for water treatment may be functional. See CHLORINATORS & CHARCOAL FILTERS for details.
Giardia in Drinking Water - a review of the health hazards & typical equipment costs for portable and whole house water treatment to remove Giardia cysts from drinking water
Iodine: Use Iodine tablets or a liquid tincture of iodine to purify the water for emergency use (see warnings just above). See Iodine Tablets or Iodine Disinfectant.
Hydrogen peroxide may be used (maybe) to purify water for emergency drinking use. [The concentration and exposure time data are still needed for this application.]
Water purifying filters: Use a filter designed for water purification, particularly ceramic filters and silver-ceramic filters. See WATER FILTERS for a separate discussion of home water filters used for sediment, odors, etc.
Use a water purifying pump such as models sold by camping equipment suppliers to purify the water - typically these pumps use a ceramic or other filter. See Filters for Drinking Water Purification for information about pump type ceramic water filters.
Use a water distiller such as a home or portable distillation unit (our photo just above/left shows a Sears® Kenmore home water distiller) (You'll need electrical power or a source of heat to distill water). This device processes about one gallon of water per cycle. We have been using this Sears Kenmore water distiller, model 5000 for more than fifteen years without a hitch. A disposable charcoal post-distillation filter is available for use in the drip spout of the unit - a potential source of contamination if it is not changed occasionally.
Reverse osmosis: use a Reverse osmosis water filtration system if water pressure is available or if a portable R.O. system is available. See REVERSE OSMOSIS WATER TREATMENT for details. RO treatment systems may work where there is no electrical power provided that you have water pressure, such as in some municipal water situations.
UV Lights - ultra violet light used for water sterilization - see UV -ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT TREATMENT
Vinegar is sometimes used as a vegetable wash and may be effective against some microorganisms in water - we have not yet found authoritative data on this application. See Vinegar & Other Disinfectants.
Mixed oxidants electrochemically generated from brine have been used for water disinfection
Halogenated resins have been used for water disinfection
Home Made & Expedient Water Sterilization Methods: Matthew Stein describes a variety of home-made, expedient, and partly effective water filters and water treatment methods in When Technology Fails. With plastic and a few sticks you can build a solar water sterilizer (solar water disinfection or SODIS systems).

Stein also explains that slow sand filters have been used for partially cleaning and treating water for a very long time. A crude home made charcoal filter will remove some odors, bad tastes, organic toxic chemicals, and radioactive fallout. Mr. Stein also describes sari water filters used in Bangladesh after flooding, but includes a critical warning that filtering water through cloth is by no means really safe.

Our favorite of his suggestions is using a plant to form a water collector and filter system, an idea which reminds us of native Americans who knew how to obtain water from desert barrel cactus. We enjoyed this book and provide this purchase link for it.
Hydrogen Peroxide for Water Disinfection
Solar Disinfection of Drinking Water: Photocatalytic enhanced solar disinfection using NF-TiO2 was responsible for complete inactivation of E. coli in those reactors exposed to both solar and visible light radiation. The presence of NF-TiO2 enhanced the disinfection rate efficiency of E.coli when compared to those experiments where no photocatalyst was used. Practical application of dye solutions as dosimetric indicator appears as very useful for determining the solar radiation dose necessary for waterborne pathogen deactivation.

Basic water purification procedures that can be used in an emergency are described just below. If community or private wells are back in operating and providing water, do not assume that the water is sanitary and ok to drink until responsible authorities have said so. Even then, local water pipes in a building may be unsanitary and additional cleaning or disinfection may be needed. See WELL CHLORINATION SHOCKING PROCEDURE and See WATER TESTS, CONTAMINANTS, TREATMENT for advice on using a private well for drinking water.

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Technical Reviewers & References

Related Topics, found near the top of this page suggest articles closely related to this one.

Solar Disinfection of Drinking Water: "Final Report: Enhanced Photocatalytic Solar Disinfection of Water as Effective Intervention Against Waterborne Diarrheal Diseases in Developing Countries", National Center for Environmental Research, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Investigators: Dionysiou, Dionysios D. , Bandala, Erick R. , Castillo, Jordana , Dunlop, Patrick , Pelaez, Miguel A,
Institution: University of Cincinnati , NIBEC, School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering , Universidad de Las Américas-Puebla
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Challenge Area - Water , P3 Challenge Area - Materials & Chemistry
Quoting from the above report (http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/index.cfm/fuseaction/display.abstractDetail/abstract/8841/report/F)
Conclusions:
Photocatalytic enhanced solar disinfection using NF-TiO2 was responsible for complete inactivation of E. coli in those reactors exposed to both solar and visible light radiation. The presence of NF-TiO2 enhanced the disinfection rate efficiency of E.coli when compared to those experiments where no photocatalyst was used. Practical application of dye solutions as dosimetric indicator appears as very useful for determining the solar radiation dose necessary for waterborne pathogen deactivation.
Solar water disinfection (SODIS) is a simple, environmentally friendly and low cost point-of-use treatment technology for drinking water purification. However, bacterial re-growth after short storage (24 h) of SODIS treated water has been observed. Seeking for improvements of SODIS performance, reduction of irradiation time and avoidance of bacteria regrowth, solar based-Advanced Oxidation Technologies (AOTs), such as solar TiO2 photocatalysis, are promising enhancements to SODIS. Unfortunately, one of the main problems with the use of conventional TiO2 for solar applications is its limited capability to absorb only the radiation in the UV range, which is only about 5-8% of the total solar radiation. In this study, we employed novel nanotechnological procedures to synthesize visible light activated nonmetaldoped TiO2 (i.e., nitrogen-doped TiO2) with high surface area and immobilized on appropriate support materials that were used in novel photocatalytic reactors for water purification in rural zones in Mexico as a case study. In combination with visible light activated TiO2, we also propose to incorporate in our process the V trough solar collector which has never been applied to solar photocatalytic processes in the past, but has much simpler geometry and demonstrated in preliminary results performance comparable to other types of solar collectors. Because of its simpler geometry, the V trough solar collector is much less expensive and is attractive to applications is developing countries. This overall process for water purification was denominated “Enhanced Photocatalytic Solar Disinfection” (ENPHOSODIS).
A complete inactivation of the bacteria was achieved when using ENPHOSODIS under solar and visible light at three different NF-TiO2 catalyst concentrations. Under dark conditions, no difference in the bacteria count was observed and no inactivation of E. coli was observed when employing visible light only. pH was an important influence on the bacteria resistance to solar radiation. E. coli was able to survive for longer radiation periods at pH 7 and 7.5 than at lower or higher pH values (i.e., 6, 6.5 and 8). An azo dye, acid orange 24 (AO24), was explored for the development of a UV dosimetric indicator for disinfection. Complete color removal was found to be equivalent to that when water submitted to ENPHOSODIS treatment, under the proposed conditions, will get enough energy to deactivate completely the viable helminth eggs present. Different configurations of immobilized TiO2 photocatalytic reactors were tested under real sun conditions. Experiments under full sun and cloudy conditions showed that these photoreactors are capable of disinfection with an optimum configuration of internal and external coating along with a compound parabolic collector.

NOTE: The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.

Potable Aqua® emergency drinking water germicidal tablets are produced by the Wisconsin Pharmacal Co., Jackson WI 53037. 800-558-6614 pharmacalway.com
Principles and Practice of Disinfection, Preservation and Sterilization (Hardcover)
by A. D. Russell (Editor), W. B. Hugo (Editor), G. A. J. Ayliffe (Editor), Blackwell Science, 2004. ISBN-10: 1405101997, ISBN-13: 978-1405101998.
"This superb book is the best of its kind available and one that will undoubtedly be useful, if not essential, to workers in a variety of industries. Thirty-one distinguished specialists deal comprehensively with the subject matter indicated by the title ... The book is produced with care, is very readable with useful selected references at the end of each chapter and an excellent index. It is an essential source book for everyone interested in this field. For pharmacy undergraduates, it will complement the excellent text on pharmaceutical microbiology by two of the present editors."
The Pharmaceutical Journal: "This is an excellent book. It deals comprehensively and authoritatively with its subject with contributions from 31 distinguished specialists. There is a great deal to interest all those involved in hospital infection ... This book is exceptionally well laid out. There are well chosen references for each chapter and an excellent index. It is highly recommended." The Journal of Hospital Infection.: "The editors and authors must be congratulated for this excellent treatise on nonantibiotic antimicrobial measures in hospitals and industry ... The publication is highly recommended to hospital and research personnel, especially to clinical microbiologists, infection-control and environmental-safety specialists, pharmacists, and dieticians."
New England Journal of Medicine: City Hospital, Birmingham, UK. Covers the many methods of the elimination or prevention of microbial growth. Provides an historical overview, descriptions of the types of antimicrobial agents, factors affecting efficacy, evaluation methods, and types of resistance. Features sterilization methods, and more. Previous edition: c1999. DNLM: Sterilization--methods.
Handbook of Disinfectants and Antiseptics, Joseph M. Ascenzi (Editor), CRC, 1995, ISBN-10: 0824795245 ISBN-13: 978-0824795245 "The evaluation of chemical germicides predates the golden age of microbiology..." -
This well-focused, up-to-date reference details the current medical uses of antiseptics and disinfectants -- particularly in the control of hospital-acquired infections -- presenting methods for evaluating products to obtain regulatory approval and examining chemical, physical, and microbiological properties as well as the toxicology of the most widely used commercial chemicals.
When Technology Fails, Matthew Stein, Chelsea Green Publisher, 2008,493 pages. ISBN-10: 1933392452 ISBN-13: 978-1933392455, "... how to find and sterilize water in the face of utility failure, as well as practical information for dealing with water-quality issues even when the public tap water is still flowing". Mr. Stein's website is www.whentechfails.com/
Cheating on water tests: Testing Water for Real Estate Transactions - make sure your water test is valid
Drinking Water Testing Advice for home buyers home owners home inspectors
Interpreting Drinking Water Test Results and Correcting Unsatisfactory Water
Drinking Water Contaminant Levels - Maximum Allowed
Drinking Water Contamination and Pollution How to Detect, Test, Correct, and Prevent Well Water Contamination - US EPA - Groundwater
Lead Contamination in Drinking Water: Testing & Correction - Advice
Lead Testing & Correcting Contamination from Lead Water Supply Lines/Entry Mains - Lead Pipe Problems/Advice
Extreme Lead Poisoning Symptoms Suggested by Feb. 2006 NY Times Article on Kosovo Roma Camps
ATSDR: Nitrate/Nitrite Toxicity [Big, Slow-Loading File] U.S. Government ATSDR Science Corner - 2.5MB PDF
Water testing for Pesticides: comprehensive and pesticides-example parameters
Water Testing: background comments on classes of water contaminants, & links to home buyer advice about water testing, drinking water, water supply
When and How to Shock or Chlorinate a Well - Procedure for Shocking a Well to (temporarily or maybe longer) "Correct" Bacterial Contamination
Water Requirements, Home & Outdoor Living
Typical Water Tests & Fees this water test fee schedule applies when testing is combined with other onsite building inspection services
Drinking Water testing, contamination, correction - all topics
General water testing and corrective measure advice: contact your local health department.

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore. Also see our Book Reviews - InspectAPedia.

The Home Reference Book - the Encyclopedia of Homes, Carson Dunlop & Associates, Toronto, Ontario, 25th Ed., 2012, is a bound volume of more than 450 illustrated pages that assist home inspectors and home owners in the inspection and detection of problems on buildings. The text is intended as a reference guide to help building owners operate and maintain their home effectively. Field inspection worksheets are included at the back of the volume. Special Offer: For a 10% discount on any number of copies of the Home Reference Book purchased as a single order. Enter INSPECTAHRB in the order payment page "Promo/Redemption" space. InspectAPedia.com editor Daniel Friedman is a contributing author.

Or choose the The Home Reference eBook for PCs, Macs, Kindle, iPad, iPhone, or Android Smart Phones. Special Offer: For a 5% discount on any number of copies of the Home Reference eBook purchased as a single order. Enter INSPECTAEHRB in the order payment page "Promo/Redemption" space.

Building inspection education & report writing systems from Carson, Dunlop & Associates Ltd


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