Total Dissolved Solids and How to Reduce Them Leave a comment

These days, several contaminants are found in drinking water, incorporated with toxic chemicals, pesticides, and other pollutants. They are all becoming accountable for water’s bad odor, taste and color.

We have become so unsure about the water that is coming from the taps is fit for drinking or not, due to the advanced age pollutants. We fall into installing purification systems that leaves no stone unturned for impurities to be present in our drinking water.

There are things that have to be considered before buying any kind of purifiers or home remedies. Amongst the various factors, health authorities often verify how safe the water or whether it has TDS (total dissolved salts).

Let us define what TDS is-

TDS is not known as the primary pollutant with any health side effects in people drinking water but is an indication of aesthetic characteristics of drinking water.

Furthermore, According to WHO,

Total dissolved solids (TDS) are the term used to describe the inorganic salts and small amounts of organic matter present in solution in water.

The constituents are usually calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, and much more. In simple words, TDS

“is the sum of the cautions and anions in water. In addition, TDS test is only used as an indicator test to determine the general quality of the water.”

WHERE DO TOTAL DISSOLVED SOLIDS COME FROM?

Most of the sources of drinking water include rivers, lakes, reservoirs, springs and wells. As the water flows over land or through the ground, it dissolves minerals and in most cases radioactive materials. Water could pick up substances from animals or human activity.

Contaminants could be present in several sources of water like:

Inorganic Contaminants

Salts and metals could naturally occur or could be a result from urban storm water runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges or farming.

Organic contaminants

Synthetic and volatile chemicals are by-products of industrial processes and petroleum production and could come from gas stations, water runoff and septic systems.

Disinfectant and Disinfection Byproducts

When chlorine, a disinfected chemical is added by water treatment plans to control bacteria, it could interfere with organic matter to create a class of chemicals called “disinfection byproducts”.

Regulation of Total Dissolved Solids

There are proven methods for minimizing TDS

• Reverse Osmosis depletes TDS by outing water under pressure through a synthetic membrane. The membrane consists of tiny pores that let only molecules tinier than micron to pass through. Since the molecules of dissolved metals and salts are often compared to the water molecules.
• Distillers are known as stills. Stills work by heating water to produce steam. The steam is collected and condensed back into water.
• Deionization Systems pass water through a resin cartridge that attracts dissolved solids, creating high purity water.

If you want more information about how to purify water, get in touch with Aquafresh.