Everyday Blog

We’ve seen the films of people in undeveloped countries drinking from polluted rivers and heard about the prevalence of disease epidemics that devastate those countries. Living the way we do in the U.S., it’s almost impossible to realize that anyone in the world wouldn’t know the link between polluted water and disease, but they either have no idea or can’t remedy the situation. What many of us don’t understand is that only 200 years ago, most of the United States had the same problems, and epidemics spread in our country the same way they do in other nations now. People didn’t understand what was occurring, and even if they did, the equipment wasn’t yet in place to operate widespread municipal water treatment systems.

Actual water filtration began in Scotland in the 1700s. Scotland was an area of the world at that time that was renowned for scientists and philosophers that were part of a period of time known as the Scottish Enlightenment, so it was no wonder that they were in the position to comprehend the importance of clean, healthy drinking water and to then create a way to purify existing water sources. During this period of time, a Scottish scientist and engineer, Robert Thom, designed the first municipal water treatment facility. He utilized a method he called slow sand filters and was able to make clean, disease-free water for an entire town.

Since the eighteenth century, municipal water treatment systems have been recreated and improved as a means to provide safe water for residents in some of the largest urban areas worldwide. Drinking water is taken from two different sources: groundwater and surface water. The bulk of all the water we drink comes from groundwater sources. Pesticides and nitrates run into this groundwater and must ,therefore, be extracted before the water will be sanitized for consumption. Groundwater also contains bacteria and other contaminants that come into it from surface water.

The human body is at least two-thirds water, and we must constantly replenish the water supply in our bodies if we are going to stay in good health. Therefore, it is important that we have reliable sources of clean drinking water. That’s where municipal water treatment plants have made a real difference in the lifestyles we lead. We in the U.S. no longer have to think about getting deadly diseases from drinking the water that flows out of our water faucets, and we have access to all the fresh water we could possibly use. Now we need to endeavor to provide clean water to people all over the world.