Water scarcity has hit many parts of the city badly and with many residential flats in Chennai, people are finding alternate ways to get water. Bore wells have been the most famous alternative to get water nowadays in Chennai.
Many living quarters are provided with ground water from bore wells but not all of them are pure and have good quality. There are many luxury flats in Chennai wherein special water processing systems are installed for a price but this is not possible in all the residential spaces. The normal household tap water might contain impurities such as bacteria, virus, protozoa, cysts, pesticides, lead, VOCs and heavy metals.It is important that bore-well water be tested for salts, iron and bacterial content before being used for washing, bathing or drinking purposes, especially considering that groundwater contamination is rampant these days. There are numerous water testing laboratories in cities, and the experts advise that the water be tested before being used.
Any groundwater must be primarily boiled. Boiling nowadays doesn’t eliminate all the issues. People have to use other techniques also to removes excess salt in the water and other chemicals. Reverse Osmosis (RO) treatment and/or UV treatmentare ideal for treatment of bore-well water. In a Reverse Osmosis where the water impurities are larger than the water molecules, the process applies pressure on the water through a membrane, and only the smaller water molecules are allowed to pass through it. In an UV treatment, the water is zapped with UV rays to kill the germs.
For water which is used other than consumption that is in swimming pools and common area, chlorination is a very good option. Since chlorine is a dangerous chemical, only professionals should be employed for chlorinating the water. In this process, liquid chlorine or bleaching powder should be mixed with the water thoroughly and introduced into the bore well. This water has to be pumped out into the sump for a few minutes so that the rising pipe is also sterilised. The chlorinated water should be used only after the smell of chlorine disappears.
