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Water Treatment: Keeping it
Pure
By Petros J. Katsioloudis
A simple activity that can be
conducted with students is the
filtration of water with the use of a
homemade filter.
The availability of water has dictated the location and
survival of civilizations through the ages. Nearly 1.1
billion people around the world lack access to potable
drinking water sources, and 2.2 million die from basic
hygiene-related disease, an issue that can easily be justified
as the most important environmental problem of all (World
Health Organization, 2007). The majority of these deaths
are wholly preventable through effective improvements in
water, sanitation, and hygiene. The United States remains
strongly committed to providing safe drinking water for
all of its citizens (Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA, 2005)).
The national goal for sanitary drinking water has been to
provide water that meets all health-based standards to 95%
of the population served by public drinking water supplies
by 2005 (EPA, 1999). In 2002, the level of compliance with
these health-based issues was 94% (EPA, 2003). However,
conventional piped water systems using effective treatment
to deliver safe water to households may be decades
away in much of the developing world. This leaves the
majority of the poorest people in the world with the task
Photo 1. Wastewater Treatment
As agriculture and industry use more and more water to meet
crop and manufacturing needs, there is a growing need to
process and clean wastewater for recycling and consumer use.
Agricultural runoff may include nutrients and other chemicals
that can have negative impacts on public health and the
environment. Efforts are being made to control runoff and
remove contaminants from such water.
of collecting water outside the home, then treating and
storing it themselves (Sobsey, 2002). Even though water
is essential for human life and its quantity and quality are
equally imperative, natural waters are in most cases not
Credit: Department of Primary Industries
10 • The Technology Teacher • April 2009