Health Effects of Nitrates
The health effects of nitrates in
our drinking water don’t affect adults as much as they affect infants. This is
because the nitrates affect the hemoglobin in our blood, changing it into
methemoglobin, making it unable to bond with the oxygen that we need. Adults
have enzymes that counter this and prevent this from happening, but infants
don’t have as many, which causes methemoglobinemia when infants are exposed to
nitrate levels above 1-2%. Symptoms of methemoglobinemia after this level are
unclear, but levels higher than 10% show symptoms of cyanosis. This causes
bluish mucous membranes as well as digestive and respiratory problems. At
levels of 20-30%, the major symptoms shown are severely reduced levels of
oxygen in the infant’s blood, also known as anoxia. At levels of 50-70%, major
symptoms of methemoglobinemia are brain damage or death. The effects of
methemoglobinemia can be reversed, however the effects of the anoxia caused by
methemoglobinemia can occur.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A54RlzmdqwkSources: http://psep.cce.cornell.edu/facts-slides-self/facts/nit-heef-grw85.aspx
Health Effects of Phosphates
The
health effects of phosphates in our drinking water affect us after it reaches
high levels. At high levels, phosphates in our drinking water causes health
problems like kidney disease and osteoporosis. However, phosphate shortages can
occur and cause health problems as well due to excessive usage of medicines.
Sources: http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/p.htm
Health Effects of Hardness
There
are no known health risks of having hardness in our drinking water. In fact, it
can help us obtain the required amounts of calcium and magnesium in our diets,
and has also shown signs of helping lower the number of incidents of heart
disease in areas. However, hardness in drinking water can cause other problems
such as soap scum build-up on tubs and showers, white mineral deposits on
dishes, and lowers the efficiency of water heating systems.
Sources: http://www.watersystemscouncil.org/VAiWebDocs/WSCDocs/1683274HARDNESS.PDF
http://des.nh.gov/organization/commissioner/pip/factsheets/dwgb/documents/dwgb-3-6.pdf
-Megan S.
Sources: http://www.watersystemscouncil.org/VAiWebDocs/WSCDocs/1683274HARDNESS.PDF
http://des.nh.gov/organization/commissioner/pip/factsheets/dwgb/documents/dwgb-3-6.pdf
-Megan S.
How Containments Get into Water
Nitrates, phosphates, and hardness all get into our water systems by natural processes, but the amount of these contaminants into water systems increase due to humans. Nitrates naturally get into water through natural erosion or the nitrogen cycle, when microorganisms breakdown animal corpses, manures, or decaying plants. Plants either absorb these nitrates or rain water takes them into ground water. Human activity also increases nitrates in the water by septic systems or sewage that may be leaking, feed lots for animals, agricultural fertilizers that runoff into the water. Phosphates also occur in water by natural causes, but the amount of the contaminant is increased by human activity. It naturally goes into the water when rain goes over rocks and erodes phosphates off the rocks, soil erosion, and animal and plant death. Phosphates also get into water systems by human activities like: human sewage, agriculture run-off from crops, pulp/paper industry, drained wetlands, detergent, chemical manufacturing, vegetable/fruit processing, and animal feed lots. Finally, hardness occurs in water mostly through natural causes, as rocks and soil that have presence of calcium and magnesium dissolve due to rain and these materials are carried into water making the water “hard”. Limestone and chalk are rocks that rain water goes over and dissolves magnesium and calcium.
http://youtu.be/4xkRsteXnTU --- video on phosphates
Overview
of Purification
Water is
the most essential item in the process of sustaining life. And if we, as humans,
cannot not obtain clean, safe drinking water, then we cannot remain living for
very long. Humans, being the adaptable species that we are, have devised many
ways to ensure that we can obtain clean water for all.
In order
to make sure that water has been purified, one has to remove harmful material
that we don't want in our system. There are multiple ways to do this. One of
the cheapest and most common ways to purify water of harmful contaminants is
through the use of pH adjustment. The procedure calls for the use of certain
compounds such as bleach or iodine and putting in small amounts to disinfect
the water. The change in acidity or basicity helps clean the water similar to
the way chlorine helps clean a pool. Once the water is clean and the bleach,
iodine, or chlorine or whatever you use has diluted enough to become not
harmful then it is safe to drink. Another way to purify water is through
biological water purification. Biological purification relies on the use of
certain bacteria to eat up any contaminants in water making it sanitary enough
for consumption, such as ammonium, sodium, and others. However, the problem is
that depending on the hardness in the water, or ash, or carbon compounds other
than the purifier can lead to the bacteria being dysfunctional. So although the
biological purification works somewhat better in ideal situations, depending on
your water being purified, it also is more unreliable. And since this is just a
general overview of the techniques, it is really hard to show how many
different kinds there are. You have cross filtration, screening, microfiltration,
ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, electrodialysis, and many more.
All of
these apply in the real world today because people around the word each day use
these techniques to survive and hopefully through this project we can raise
enough money in order to help more people obtain the materials they need in
order to make their lives a lot less of a worry.
Sources:
Wikipedia.com
Lenntech.com
Wwmag,com
nationalgeographic.com
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ReplyDeleteSo are you saying nitrates and phosphates get into the water through waste, both human and animal?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.geography4kids.com/files/cycles_phosphorus.html
DeleteThis website has good information about the phosphorus cycle. Phosphorus can enter a body of water through fertilizers, waste, and by the weathering of rocks.
Good analysis on the details of the purification of water, for the many types of water that need to be purified.
ReplyDeleteHow are the effects of methemoglobinemia reversed?
ReplyDeleteSo in the overview are you explaining that there is a way to remove the waste that we do not want straight from our bodies?
ReplyDeleteYes, as both humans and animals consume plants that contain nitrates and phosphates naturally, through the nitrogen and phosphate cycles, and also crops that have been grown with fertilizers, which contain nitrates and phosphates.
ReplyDeleteIf water hardness does not affect the human body in any negative way, why is it being removed?
ReplyDeleteBecause it can cause other problems such as soap scum build-up, white mineral deposits on dishes, and it lowers the efficiency of water heating systems.
DeleteWhat chemical reaction converts hemoglobin into methemoglobin?
ReplyDeleteLinks are not working. FYI
ReplyDelete