Big Berkey water filter– A leader in water purification procedures

In every home, there is one thing that has more importance than any appliance. That is a water purifier. Big Berkey creates water purifiers to help people have clean water in their homes.  For more information on the Big Berkey water filter, visit the official USA Berkey website

Without water purifiers, people will need to face the dangers of untreated water. A lot of people suffer from diarrhea each year. While a lot of other things can cause diarrhea, the main cause is dirty water. The thing is that some of these people have no choice but to consume contaminated water.

This is because of the rising prices of water purifiers. Big Berkey understands the needs of the people. This is the reason why they maintain affordable prices for the filters. Not only that, but they also ensure that their filters have state-of-the-art technology.

How does filtration work anyway? Sure, it has different stages but what happens in these stages? This article will discuss these steps and their roles in providing safe water.

Pre-treatment procedure

At this stage, the filters act as a separator between contaminants and water. Several contaminants, materials, and chemicals separate from the water. Here, a procedure called “Screening” starts. It handles the removal of big debris like trash and waste material from the water. Screening happens when the water sources are rivers, lakes, and streams.

Normal surface water has a higher risk of contamination because of various pollutants. Because of this, the pre-treatment procedure may include the usage of certain chemicals. These chemicals stop bacterial growth in the pipes where the water passes through. It will also prevent the growth of bacteria in water storage tanks. This is where sand filtration comes into play. Sand filtration works by keeping solids at the bottom of the tank.

The next step is pre-conditioning. Here is where the treatment of hard water starts. Hard water is water that has high mineral content. Soda ash, also known as sodium carbonate reduces minerals from hard water to “soften” it. In this process, sodium carbonate also removes calcium carbonate. One would see this compound on the shells of various marine animals. It has some agricultural uses as well.

Hard water needs to “soften up” because the minerals can clog pipes. This procedure also causes hard water to have the same features as soft water.

The final step in the pre-treatment stage is pre-chlorination. This is a standard filtering method all around the world. Some scientists question the validity of this step though. In any case, this is where the application of chlorine to the water begins.

Raw water may have high levels of natural organic matter. It reacts with chlorine during the water’s disinfection procedure. This reaction may create by-products resulting from disinfection. Some examples of these by-products are bromates, trihalomethanes, and chlorite. These by-products are harmful to one’s health if consumed while drinking water.

This would also cause different cancers like bladder and stomach cancer. Chlorine may be also dangerous for the environment. These are the reasons why scientists are wary of this procedure.

After the pre-treatment procedure

Another procedure starts after pre-treatment which involves refinement and treatment using chemicals. One of these steps is coagulation. Here, chemicals act as a magnet to small particles in the water. They then stick together and suspend in the water. The next step is flocculation. Big paddles mix with water and it causes coagulated particles to stick with other big clumps. These clumps are also called flocs. This accumulation of flocs would then settle to the bottom of the storage tank.

Water leaves the flocculation tank after these particles have settled down. The water then enters the sedimentation basin. This is like the flocculation basin but it allows the water to pass through it. It doesn’t stay at the basin to wait for the particles to settle down. But the “settling down” procedure of particles still continues at this phase.

What happens to the particles left behind by the water? They became sludge and they get removed from the basin. The water that passed through the sedimentation basin continues to the filtration step. This step continues the task of the flocculation and sedimentation basins. It still removes and lingering particles in the water. Any microorganisms and algae also separate from the water due to the filtration step.

The final step in the pre-treatment procedure is disinfection. Now, various disinfectants get added to the mix. This is a very important step because this is where it kills viruses, protozoa, and bacteria. The normal disinfection agent used in this step is a version of chlorine. Examples are chlorine dioxides and chloramines.

It is important to note that chlorine is an example of toxic gas. There are always risks when using chlorine in any procedure. Plants avoid these risks by opting to use other methods. They use ultraviolet radiation, hydrogen peroxide, or ozone instead of chlorine. They also resort to other techniques like ultrafiltration. This method is only used for specific substances in the water.

Another method is ion exchange. This method removes metal ions and any remnants of heavy metal in the water. Fluoridation is another method plants use on water filtration systems. Based on the name itself, this step prevents tooth decay in humans.

Now, take note that not all parts of the world have the luxury of having their own water treatment plants. Because of this, people need to have alternative methods for water purification. This is where Big Berkey and their water purifiers come in.

Big Berkey’s water filters use filtration technologies such as reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis is very popular and the go-to option for water filtration. With the filters having three and more stages, the people now have access to treated water. These water filters mimic water treatment plants’ methods in purifying water. That way, people in these countries would not feel left behind.

Of course, there are still basic filtration methods like boiling water and distillation. These are good options but it’s best to get a water purifier instead.

Conclusion

Big Berkey aims to provide clean water like the water treatment plants do. They want to even provide cleaner water than the plants. With all these options, people would benefit more because of their access to clean water.