2.12 Potable water Flashcards
(4 cards)
Potable water
It is suitable for drinking so it must have:
Low levels of microbes
Low levels of contaminating substances
It is safe but not the same as pure water
Making waste and ground water potable
There are three stages that need to take place for waste water to be potable:
Sedimentation: large insoluble particles will sink to the bottom of the water
Filtration: Water is filtered through beds of sand which removes small insoluble particles
Chlorination: Chlorine gas is put through water to kill microbes
Making sea water potable using distillation
You filter the seawater and then boil it, meaning that water vapour would cool and condense before being collected in a tube.
Water in analysis
It must be pure because any salts could react with the substances you are analysing, which could end up in a false result.