Water Pollutants

Water pollution is a large set of adverse effects upon water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and groundwater caused by human activities.

Pollutants in water include a wide spectrum of chemicals, pathogens, and physical chemistry or sensory changes. Many of the chemical substances are toxic. Pathogens can produce waterborne diseases in either human or animal hosts. Alteration of water's physical chemistry include acidity, electrical conductivity, temperature, and eutrophication. Eutrophication is the fertilisation of surface water by nutrients that were previously scarce. Even many of the municipal water supplies in developed countries can present health risks. Water pollution is a major problem in the global context. It has been suggested that it is the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases, and that it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily.

Our database has the values for the following water pollutants:

• Hardness

  Normal / Moderate / Critical Values: 300 / 345 / 378 g/M3

  Pollutant Information: Hard water also affects the performance of household appliances. Researchers at New Mexico State University studied the effects of water quality on the performance of gas and electric residential water heaters.

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• Calcium

  Normal / Moderate / Critical Values: 80.1 / 90.4 / 105.4 g/M3

  Pollutant Information: The possible health consequences of low calcium content water consumption are on the intestinal mucous membrane

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• Magnesium

  Normal / Moderate / Critical Values: 24.28 / 28.65 / 32.54 g/M3

  Pollutant Information: It has been demonstrated that consuming water of low magnesium content has a negative effect on homeostasis mechanisms. Homeostasis literally means same state and it refers to the process of keeping the internal body environment in a steady state.

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• Arsenic

  Normal / Moderate / Critical Values: 0.05 / 0.1 / 1.2 g/M3

  Pollutant Information: Arsenic, a cancer-causing metal that poisons millions of people worldwide, exerts its harmful effects by boosting the bodys production of damaging chemicals called free radicals.

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• Iron

  Normal / Moderate / Critical Values: 0.3 / 0.93 / 1.5 g/M3

  Pollutant Information: Iron is a trace element which is needed by the body for the formation of blood. The human body normally contains 3-4g of iron, more than half of which is in the form of haemoglobin, the red pigment in blood.

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• Chloride

  Normal / Moderate / Critical Values: 250 / 263.6 / 287.3 g/M3

  Pollutant Information: In addition to its functions as an electrolyte, chloride combines with hydrogen in the stomach to make hydrochloric acida powerful digestive enzyme responsible for the breakdown of proteins, the absorption of other metallic minerals, and activation of intrinsic factor, which, in turn, absorbs vitamins.

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• PH

  Normal / Moderate / Critical Values: 7.5 / 8 / 9.3 g/M3

  Pollutant Information: The technical definition of pH is that it is a measure of the activity of the hydrogen ion (H+) and is reported as the reciprocal of the logarithm of the hydrogen ion activity. PH is needed to determine the corrosivity of the water

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