Author: aosmith

On a daily basis, you need water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and various other purposes. While the quality of the water used for cleaning is not something you might think about twice, the quality of the potable water may certainly bring some questions to your mind. You may have heard about the pH value of water and probably wondered why it should affect you. 

Let us delve further into this discussion and understand what the pH level in water is and its implications on your health.

What is the pH Level in Water?

The potential of Hydrogen, also known as pH, is the intensity of the acidic or basic property of water. In water chemistry, the measurement of pH is an important indicator of water quality and is necessary for various processes since the treatment of water, water softening, disinfection, etc., relies on the pH. [1]

The pH value of water can influence and also get affected by the different characteristics of water, such as taste, turbidity, total dissolved solids, smell, and temperature. For example, a change in water temperature weakens the ionisation equilibrium of weak bases and acids in the water, thus affecting the pH value of the water.  [1]

Role of pH in the Human Body

It may come across as surprising, but the pH levels in the human body are responsible for helping the body function normally. The normal pH level in the human serum is between 7.35 to 7.45, which is essential for survival. [2]

Excessive high and low pHs can be detrimental to the use of water. The pH in drinking water also needs to be maintained so that the water tastes palatable and the body’s pH is balanced.  Very high pH levels in drinking water can make the water bitter and pollutes water pipes and appliances with deposits. For this reason, chlorine needs to be added to the water to balance the pH.  On the other hand, a low water pH corrodes the pipelines. [3]

As per global health regulations, drinking water’s pH range should be 6.5–8.5, based on the disinfection process and other factors. This was considered because it was noted that a high pH could give the water a bitter taste, while a lower pH makes the water feel slippery and tastes like soda. [1]

Conclusion

The pollution caused by the corrosion of metals in the water supply disturbs the natural balance of essential minerals in the water; thus, balancing the pH in drinking water helps reduce that. 

The alkaline min-tech filter in A. O. Smith water purifiers balances the pH value of the water between a healthy range of 7 – 8.5, along with the retention of essential minerals like calcium, magnesium, etc.

References

1. Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality: Guideline Technical Document – pH

2. The Alkaline Diet: Is There Evidence That an Alkaline pH Diet Benefits Health?

3. pH and Water

Clean drinking water is essential for everyone, but only some always have easy access to pure drinking water. Essential minerals in the water are good for health, and at the same time, the contaminants in the water are harmful to health. A good treatment system can give safe water by removing harmful chemicals from water.Generally, the municipal corporation of your city pre-treats the water, which renders it potable enough. But what about places that receive an untreated water supply? Heavy metals can be a concern when the water is not treated properly.What are heavy metals in water? Why should they be removed? How to filter heavy metals from water? Let us find out.

Heavy Metals and Their Impact on Drinking Water

Heavy metals are natural elements with a high atomic weight; their density is at least 5 times more than water. Toxic heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, lead, arsenic, and chromium adversely impact human health. For instance, groundwater can sometimes contain arsenic, and exposure to arsenic through drinking water has been linked to cardiovascular diseases, portal fibrosis, diabetes, and hearing problems. [1]Now that you know how harmful heavy metal-contaminated water can be, let us see how to filter heavy metals from water.

How Do You Filter Heavy Metals Out of Drinking Water?

The consumption of drinking water contaminated with heavy metals is responsible for high morbidity and mortality rates across the globe. This has become a concern for the common people and healthcare professionals since drinking water is the predominant source of contamination. [2]The use of reverse osmosis has proven to be effective in removing heavy metals from water. The reverse osmosis process uses pressure to force the water through a membrane, retaining the contaminants or solute on one side and allowing the pure water or solvent to pass to the other side. The membranes in reverse osmosis comprise a dense barrier layer that only lets water pass through the membrane. [3]Of the many methods employed to remove heavy metals from water, chemical precipitation, such as lime softening, or filtration methods, like granular media filtration, can be used. However, it has been seen that granular media filtration and lime softening can remove contaminants like copper and lead but not arsenic and chromate. Only reverse osmosis effectively removes all heavy metals without needing arsenic to be pre-oxidised. Hence, heavy metal contaminants in drinking water need to be treated by reverse osmosis along with a few other processes, including ultrafiltration and microfiltration. [4]

Conclusion

Today, most homes, at least in cities and towns, are equipped with water purifiers to ensure the supply of clean drinking water. An RO can safely remove harmful bacteria, dissolved contaminants, and heavy metals from drinking water. If you are seeking options in RO water purifiers, you can always take a look at our A. O. Smith range of RO water purifiers.

References

1. Heavy Metals Toxicity and the Environment

2. Prevalence of exposure to heavy metals and their impact on health consequences

3. Heavy Metal Removal Using Reverse Osmosis

4. Removal of Trace Heavy Metals from Drinking Water by Electrocoagulation

The drinking water that is supplied to our homes may not necessarily be safe for consumption, even though it may look clear. Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in water is an indication of the amount of minerals, metals, organic material, and salts, specifically ions such as magnesium, calcium, sodium, and potassium. These ions are an indication of the quality of your water. However, organic residue, such as the salts and minerals from rocks or groundwater, as well as inorganic residue from farming activities, can be responsible for invisible particles in the water, which can increase the level of TDS in the water. [1]

What is TDS? – Definition, Explanation  

The water TDS full form is Total Dissolved Solids, which is the total concentration of dissolved substances in water. TDS comprises organic matter and inorganic salts such as potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, and others. And all of these find their way into various water bodies through natural causes and also due to human activities. [2]

Why is impure water bad?

Consumption of impure water has been directly linked to diseases such as diarrhoea, typhoid, dysentery, Hepatitis A, and polio, which can be fatal if medical care is not promptly given. The contamination in the water can be due to the natural process or indirect addition due to inadequate management of urban, industrial, and agricultural wastewater. Natural addition of chemicals such as arsenic and fluoride are mainly seen in the case of groundwater (4).

In 2017, more than 220 million people were given preventative treatment for schistosomiasis. This chronic disease occurs through parasitic worms that enter the body through infected water. About 2 billion people worldwide consume drinking water from a source contaminated with feces. This water source contaminated with microbes from fecal waste greatly threatens the safety of drinking water.

TDS cannot be eliminated through basic filtration technology. To date, it is only reverse osmosis that has proved to be efficient enough to remove TDS from water. Minerals found in water are necessary for the body, but at the same time, toxic chemicals and heavy metals can lead to health hazards. It is essential to select a water purifier that works on 100% RO technology rather than mixing the water to attain the desired TDS levels. (5)

How to choose which purifier works best for you? High TDS vs Low TDS

The choice of your water purifier will depend on what type of water supply you receive. In most cities, the municipal corporation supplies water for daily use, which also includes drinking water. This water may contain invisible impurities or, in rare cases, traces of microbiological matter like bacteria or viruses. At times, you may also receive groundwater, which has a higher level of TDS.

Using a TDS meter, you can know the TDS level in the water. If the TDS is more than 200mg/litre, you should opt for a RO water purifier, whereas a drinking water TDS of less than 200mg/litre can be resolved with a UV water purifier.

Water purifiers with advanced purification technology can assure safe and healthy water. Make a healthy choice for your family, and use A. O. Smith India water purifiers!

References

1. Research on drinking water purification technologies for household use by reducing total dissolved solids (TDS) | PLOS ONE 
2. TDS AND pH FACT SHEET 
3. Total dissolved solids in Drinking-water 
4. WHO Factsheet on Drinking Water 
5. Reverse-osmosis- An overview  

Water purifiers have become a modern-day need rather than a luxury since the tap water supply in many homes across the country may be contaminated with traces of sewage or even chemicals [1].
This is where an under-the-counter water purifier can help you. An under-sink water purifier is much like its regular wall-mounted counterpart. However, considering how people nowadays want neat and compact kitchen spaces, an under-counter water purifier can be installed under the counter or the sink, leaving space on the walls for cabinets and other storage racks.

What is the Technology behind Under-the-Counter UTC Water Purifiers?

 

Under-the-counter water purifiers make use of reverse osmosis technology, so that water can be supplied from a single outlet.  The design makes it compact to fit under your counter. The use of high-end technology and its 6 stage purification make it an efficient water purifier to meet the requirement of the customer to get purified water. The RO filtration system comprises several stages of filtration to remove impurities from potable water, such as arsenic, chlorine, and others. [2]

Main factors to consider when buying UTC Water Purifiers

Several factors can influence your choice of a UTC water purifier, some of them include:

Easy Installation 

Ensure that the under-sink water purifier can be set up easily under your kitchen counter without making excessive changes or renovating the section. Generally, the water purifier installation should be hassle-free and can be completed within an hour.

Scope of Cleaning

If you want to fit the water purifier under the counter, ensure that you are able to access the spot for regular cleaning. Since you will be getting your potable water supply from the purifier, the surrounding area should be clean and free from dust particles, debris, crumbs, etc.

Power Supply

Be sure to check if your UTC water purifier will be able to store enough water in case of an unsteady power supply in your home. Hence, in case of a power cut, you should still be able to get clean drinking water. Electric water purifiers can store up to 5- 8Ltr of water.

Budget

While you should not compromise on the quality of your under-counter water purifier to save some money, you can do a cost-benefit analysis between a few UTC water purifiers before choosing one that fits your budget and works efficiently. Consider this an important investment for your home!

Benefits of UTC Water Purifiers

Saves Space

The design and installation of UTC water purifiers can save a lot of countertop space. Also, since the purifier is located under the counter, it gives your kitchen wall a clutter-free appearance.

Better Water Flow

An under-sink water purifier uses a hydropneumatic tank that uses optimal pressure, resulting in better water flow and pressure. As a result of this, you need not spend a long time filling water bottles[3].

Clean Potable Water

Since the reverse osmosis technology used in the UTC water purifiers filters out traces of contamination and impurities, you get clean water that is safe for consumption, be it for your family or your pets!

With these benefits and many others, check out the A. O. Smith India range of UTC water purifiers for more!

References

Citations

1. Deaths Due to Lack of Clean Water

2. Global Under Sink RO Water Purifiers Market Demand Outlook

3. Available Water Purifier technologies & emerging trend of Under the Counter Water Purifiers

Everyone wants clean water. Whether it’s for your well-being, or the sake of your loved ones – hydration is always priority number 1. But how clean is your water? How do you get rid of as much of the impurities and bacteria that you can? Here’s where SCMT comes in.

How do you purify your water?

If you’ve ever looked into water purification – you’ve heard of some of the ways you can clean your water. UV, UF, RO – they’re all great ways to get the best water you can. But what if we told you there’s a better way?

 

What is SCMT? 

SCMT (Silver Charged Membrane Technology) is the future. A combination of RO + UV gets rid of your bacteria and viruses, but there’s a lot more to purify [1]. A combination of RO + UV + UF goes much further, but it still can’t get rid of phosphates and isn’t capable of chemical reduction [2]. A combination of RO + SCMT takes care of all of these, making your water safe for drinking. The impurities in your feed water are taken care of , thanks to this highly advanced filtration technology [3].

 

Double protection with RO+ Silver Charged Membrane Technology

Water keeps us hydrated and healthy. The quantity of the water consumption may vary from person to person, but the quality should be as per the Drinking water standard. The water quality cannot be predicted with the number of additional filtration technologies apart from RO , in fact it’s all about selecting the cutting-edge technology to give double protected baby safe water.

Even though reverse osmosis is the best technology available for microbial and chemical reduction, the market demand for the secondary disinfection technology for reassuring the quality of the water they drink. In the market there are chemical and mechanical secondary filtration techniques which can be combined with RO.

Silver charged membrane technology reduces a wide range of pathogens, and cellular debris when compared to other secondary disinfection technology available in the market. The charge field covers the entire depth and the void volume of the media makes it more efficient. The crystal structure with strong positive charge attracts the negatively charged submicron particles. The depth filtration is made even more efficiently by tightly holding the contaminants.

RO in combination with the SCMT makes water baby safe. There are many other secondary disinfection technologies which comes in combination with the RO water purifier. The choice of the right combination gives you safe water. AO Smith water purifier comes with a promise of double purified water with RO + SCMT.

 

Conclusion 

Contaminants in water are a big threat to the health of you and your loved ones. Technology has made it convenient & safer to drink pure and healthy drinking water, with A.O. Smith water purifiers leading the revolution. The question is – will you join us?

Check out our range of RO + SCMT purifiers here.

 Is your water safer to drink?

Clean water is a basic necessity, you need safe water to drink. The water you drink may be crystal clear with no discoloration or visible particles, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t contaminated [1]. So how do you ensure your water is as pristine as it can be? Let’s take a look at some of the water purification technologies that help keep your water safe.

UV

You might have seen UV technology in a lot of water purifiers without knowing exactly what it entails. This is an age old technology for getting microbiologically safe water. UV light is a powerful bacteria deterrent, and this helps your purifier inactivate nasty disease-spreading microorganisms in your water. This leaves you with a microbe-free supply of drinking water, but doesn’t remove any other impurities like physical and chemical [2].

UF

Ultrafiltration or UF is a membrane technology that helps get rid of more physical impurities. By forcing your water through a semipermeable membrane, your purifier gets rid of tiny particles in the water [3]. Think of it as a strainer for your water; getting rid of larger particles and bacteria while retaining healthy minerals.

RO 

Reverse Osmosis or RO is a membrane technology, which is considered to be the heart of water purifiers. Similar to UF, it works with a semi-permeable membrane, along with a high-pressure pump to completely remove both physical chemical and microbiological in your water, leaving you with water cleaner than any of the previous methods we’ve mentioned [4].

SCMT

Silver Charged Membrane Technology (SCMT) is the most potent water purification technology we’ve seen yet. Using a filter media with a high electropositive charge on its nano-fibres, this technology not only takes out viruses and bacteria but also takes out some of the chemical impurities like phosphates, colloids etc. [5]

What works best?

While all these different methods of purification are powerful on their own, they work best in tandem. Most water purifiers use RO + UV or RO + UV + UF combinations, but to obtain water that can be considered even baby safe, you need to look further at RO + SCMT [5]. Getting rid of the most contaminants, your water is significantly cleaner as compared to any of the previous combinations.

With A. O. Smith water purifiers, we use all of these technologies in conjunction with an 8 stage purification process, providing you with purified water to take care of yours & your family’s health. You can check out our line of water purifiers here.

1 – Human perception of water appearance
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00288330.1995.9516637 
2 – Ultraviolet radiation and its germicidal effect in drinking water purification.
https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20113034661 
3 – Hybrid forward osmosis/ultrafiltration membrane bag for water purification
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S001191641930579X 
4 – A Review on Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration Membranes for Water Purification
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/11/8/1252 
5 – Disruptor® for Residential Use
https://www.ahlstrom-munksjo.com/products/filter-media/water-filtration/residential-use/