The 4 Types of Water Contaminants


Whole home water treatment

It is important that you look into uv water treatment systems for your home. You and your family could be at risk and you wouldn’t even know it. While there are certainly several objects in your home that can get contaminated with germs, your pillow and sponge for instance come to mind, it is in fact your water that you should most be looking out for. If you want to learn more before getting any uv water treatment systems, you should learn about the different types of contaminants that could find there way into your drinking water.

Keep in mind that a contaminant is defined as basically any substance found in water that is not an actual water molecule. This broad definition speaks for a host of different substances. As such, some are more harmful as others. In fact, some may not be harmful at all. To help you figure your way out concerning what is a contaminant and what is not, here is a list of the four different types.

  1. Physical Contaminants
    First, you have psychical contaminates. As you can guess from the name of this certain type of contaminant, it involves the physical properties of water. Specifically, anything that affects the look of water or any other physical aspect of the water can be classified as a physical containment. For instance, food coloring in water would count as a physical contaminant as it affects the color of water. Another example would be any specks of dirt that has eroded off of surrounding ground in a natural stream and then mixed into the water. This also counts as a physical contaminant.
  2. Chemical Contaminant
    Next on the list we have chemical contaminants. The causes of these types of contaminants are in fact any sort of element or compound that has gotten into the water. When you hear chemical you probably assume it will involve something man made such as the chemicals in a cleaning solution. Well while man made chemicals can count under this type, so too can chemicals that are more natural. As such, there are many examples such as bleach, drugs, toxins form bacteria, and much more.
  3. Biological Contaminants
    Our third type of water contaminant to go on the list is biological contaminants. These types of contaminants are in fact from what you would assume would be natural to water, but are not. Specifically, these contaminants come from organisms in water. This could be any from fish in streams to bacteria in faucet water. Again, some of these contaminants are harmless and very much natural to being a part of water and in them. That said, there are some that you should watch out for and us a things like a home water distiller or a backwash filter system to clean out.
  4. Radiological Contaminants
    The last contaminant on our list are radiological contaminants. These types of contaminants are once again chemical, but they are different than the contaminants from before. This time, they are chemicals that have problems from a microscopic level. Specifically, there is an unbalanced number within the atom between its protons and neutrons. This causes radiation thus creating contaminants such a uranium. Yes, you can have uranium in your water.

In order to protect yourself from any one of these issues you should first know that these water contaminants exist. From there you should learn which types there are, which hopefully you know now, and then learn how to protect yourself. Look into uv water treatment systems and make sure that your water is clean, clear, and safe.


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