What are some methods for cleaning up water quality?

1 Answer
Jun 10, 2015

There are several methods of purifying water to make it safe to drink, including filtration, sedimentation, and distillation. The best method depends on what is contaminating the water.

Explanation:

One of the more interesting and sustainable purification solutions is called a Bio-Sand Filter. It's small enough to be used in people's homes and it works best in communities where there is plenty of water around, but it's contaminated by micro-organisms and dirt.

A Bio-Sand Filter, or a slow sand filter, works by pouring dirty water into a container that has several layers. Each layer does a different job in cleaning up the water:

  1. The top layer keeps anything big (rocks & dirt) from going into the
    filter.
  2. The second layer is made up of bacteria - these are actually
    healthy "good" bacteria that eat the harmful bacteria in the water
    that makes us sick.
  3. Further layers of sand and gravel work to remove any remaining contaminants.

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