How to Treat Contaminated Water?
Contaminated Water
If you live in an area where natural disasters are likely to occur, such as a flood plain, hurricane or tornado region, or a known earthquake zone, you hopefully have an adequate supply of water stored in advance.
However, in rare emergency disaster situations, after you have used all of your stored water, or when no reliable sources of water are available, you will need to treat all water of uncertain quality.
Contaminated water will have a bad odor and taste, but more importantly will contain germs or bacteria, which may lead to dysentery, typhoid or hepatitis. All water of uncertain quality should be treated before using it for drinking, food preparation or hygiene.
Although there are many ways to treat water, none are perfect, and the best solution is a combination of methods. Boiling and chlorination are the two easiest methods for killing bacteria and other microorganisms, but they will not remove other contaminants such as heavy metals, salts and other chemicals.
For this reason, contaminated water should be pretreated by either letting any suspended particles settle out or strain the water through a coffee filter, multiple layers of paper towels or a clean cloth. When filtering, make sure there are no holes in your ‘filter’ or you are simply wasting your time.
Boiling is the safest method for treating water. In a large pot or kettle, bring the water to a boil for at least 1 minute, then allow to fully cool before drinking.
Keep in mind that some water will evaporate during boiling, so depending on the quantity of water available, boil the water just long enough to be safe. The taste of boiled water can be improved by adding oxygen back into the water. Pouring the water back and forth between two clean containers easily does this.
Chlorination of contaminated water can be performed with either household liquid bleach or pre-purchased sodium hypochlorite. If using sodium hypochlorite, follow the water purification instructions on the package. If using bleach, you must use regular household liquid bleach that contains 5.25 – 6% sodium hypochlorite.
Scented, color-safe, or other bleaches with additives should not be used due to the additional chemicals they contain. Add 16 drops (1/8 teaspoon) of bleach to every gallon of and let stand for 15 minutes. The water should have a slight bleach odor. If it does not, the water still contains bacterial contaminants and should be treated again. If after 2 treatments, the water still does not have a slight bleach odor, it should be discarded and another source of water located.
Although boiling and chlorination will both kill most microorganisms in contaminated water, only distillation will also remove any heavy metals, salts and other chemicals present.
Distillation involves boiling water and collecting the vapor as it condenses back into water. To distill water you will need a large pot, a lid for the pot (with a handle), cup or other small container, and string/wire. Fill the pot 1/2 full with water. Tie the cup/container to the handle of the lid so it hangs suspended in the center of the pot, above the water. Place the lid upside down on the pot and boil the water for at least 20 minutes. As the water evaporates, it will condense on the lid, and drip into the suspended cup.
In rare emergency disaster situations, survival may depend on your ability to obtain a reliable, uncontaminated source of water. If none is available, knowing how to purify a contaminated water supply could be critical to your survival.
Treatment of gasoline-contaminated waters by advanced oxidation processes [An article from: Journal of Hazardous Materials]
by: E.R.L. Tiburtius
publisher: Elsevier
ASIN: B000RR7NWO
price: $8.95 (new)
This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Hazardous Materials, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Description:
In this study, the efficiency of advanced oxidative processes (AOPs) was investigated toward the degradation of aqueous solutions containing benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX) and gasoline-contaminated waters. The results indicated that BTX can be effectively oxidized by near UV-assisted photo-Fenton process. The treatment permits almost total degradation of BTX and removal of more than 80% of the phenolic intermediates at reaction times of about 30min. Preliminary investigations using water contaminated by gasoline suggest a good potentiality of the process for the treatment of large volumes of aqueous samples containing these polluting species. Heterogeneous photocatalysis and H”2O”2/UV system show lower degradation efficiency, probably due to the heterogeneous character of the TiO”2-mediated system and lost of photonic efficiency of the H”2O”2/UV system in the presence of highly colored intermediated.
Cyanide in Water and Soil: Chemistry, Risk, and Management
publisher: CRC Press, published: 2005-12-09
ASIN: 1566706661
EAN: 9781566706667
sales rank: 1986821
price: $176.34 (new), $165.00 (used)
The presence of cyanide is a significant issue in industrial and municipal wastewater treatment and management, in remediation of former manufactured gas plant sites and aluminum production waste disposal sites, in treatment and management of residuals from hydrometallurgical gold mining, and in other industrial operations in which cyanide-bearing wastes were produced. The complexity of the chemistry and toxicology of cyanide and the risk it poses in different environmental contexts make its management and remediation extremely challenging. Cyanide in Water and Soil is the first book to present the state-of-the-art in managing cyanide across a wide range of industrial and environmental contexts.
The book brings together current knowledge and information about cyanide release to and behavior in the environment, and explores how to control or remediate these releases. No other broad-based examination of this topic exists. Exploring the anthropogenic and natural sources of cyanide in the environment, the authors address the full range of issues pertaining to cyanide fate, transport, treatment, and toxicity in water and soil as well as approaches currently used in risk assessment and management. They have developed a careful balance of depth and scope of coverage, providing current references that help readers learn more about topics of particular interest.
An array of technologies is available for the treatment of cyanide in surface water and groundwater, wastewaters, and contaminated soils and sludges. These technologies span the gamut of biological, chemical, electrolytic, physical, and thermal treatment processing. Presenting examples of applications of the technologies employed most commonly in municipal and industrial settings, the book is a useful reference tool for engineers, scientists, practitioners, and researchers in academia, industrial organizations, government, and engineering and science consulting firms.
Contaminated Water Treatment System : Outline Explanation
TEPCO released reference explanations of the contaminated water treatment system on 22nd October; download slides on tinyurl.com
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