The Importance of Good Municipal Water Treatment
We’ve seen the photos of people in undeveloped countries drinking from contaminated water sources and heard about the rampant disease epidemics that devastate those countries. Living the way we do in the United States, it’s difficult to realize that anyone in the world wouldn’t know the connection between unsanitary water and disease, but they either are clueless or can’t remedy the conditions. What many of us don’t understand is that only a couple of hundred years ago, most of the United States had the same problems, and illnesses spread in our country the same way they do in other nations in today’s world. People didn’t know what was occurring, and even if they would have, the technology wasn’t yet in place to run major municipal water treatment systems.
Actual water filtration started in Scotland in the 1700s. Scotland was a part of the world back then that was full of scientists and philosophers that became known as the Scottish Enlightenment, so it was no wonder that they were able to comprehend the importance of clean, disease-free drinking water and to then come up with a way to clean existing water sources. At this point in time, a Scottish scientist and engineer, Robert Thom, designed the first municipal water treatment facility. He utilized a method called slow sand filters and was able to produce clean, disease-free water for an entire town.
Since the 18th century, municipal water treatment systems have been recreated and improved as a means to provide safe water for people in some of the most populated metropolitan areas on the globe. Drinking water is taken from two different sources: groundwater and surface water. The bulk of all the water we drink comes from groundwater sources. Chemicals run into this groundwater and must subsequently be extracted before the water will be approved for consumption. Groundwater also is filled with bacteria and other contaminants that come into it from surface water.
The human body is about two-thirds made up of water, and we must continuously replenish the water reserves in our bodies if we are going to maintain good health. Therefore, it is vital that we have reliable sources of clean drinking water. That’s where municipal water treatment plants have made a major difference in the healthy lives we lead. We in America no longer have to be concerned about coming down with devastating diseases from drinking the water that comes out of our taps, and we have access to all the fresh water we could ever want. Now we need to work at getting clean water to people throughout the world.

Posted June 27, 2009
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