Safe Water for All
Imagine for a moment a world that is very different from what you consider to be “normal”: a life where you are unable to get safe water for your daily needs. Forget the idea of just turning on a sink tap, or even buying it at the supermarket; in this world there is no market that sells water, and even if there were, you couldn’t afford it. How would your family cope in a situation where you lack safe water, which is the highest priority and most basic need for healthy human existence. Forget the designer clothes, iPods, and cell phones. You are in pure survival mode.
It seems your only option for water is to get a bucket or jug, and walk several miles to an open water hole, dirty stream, or (if you’re lucky), a public water pump (most of which have contaminated water), and then hand-carry your load of water back home. A bucket full doesn’t go very far, though, so this trip must be made many times. Usually your daughters will spend hours every day fetching water, instead of getting an education. Further, because they carry the heavy water on their heads, they frequently have chronic neck and back problems caused by damage to their skeletons.
The hours spent daily retrieving water are wasted because the water is contaminated and unsafe to use. But, you do not know this. As a result, everyone in your family becomes potentially (and, so often is) one of the 5,000 humans who die each and every day from water-borne illnesses—1.9 million a year! They die only because they can’t access water that is safe enough for human consumption. Even if your family is lucky and no one dies, it will not escape the illnesses caused by the contaminated water. Nearly 2 billion humans suffer from water-borne diseases each year.
Now imagine for a moment that you live in a world that is seemingly far removed from, yet physically close to our “poor folks” example. This is the world of the extremely wealthy, who live in the same general culture as the indigent, socio-economic victims of a water-poor existence. You are one of the affluent few who have whatever material things that you desire to have, whenever you want, and without any stress upon your financial resources. You live in a secure estate with electricity, piped water, and all the toys and joys of modern society. It seems you have it all, right? A careful look, however, shows that it is not entirely so! There is one very simple, yet crucial resource that even you, one of the wealthiest in the land, has difficulty getting, despite your seemingly limitless resources: fail-safe access to safe water.
What? Even the rich in these regions don’t get absolutely safe water throughout their homes and businesses? Generally speaking, the correct answer is “No, they don’t!” This is because there are no easily implemented commercial offerings that deliver complete peace-of-mind to those who demand absolute integrity in the safety and quality of the water delivered throughout their home. At best, the quality is generally uncertain, and is always variable due to some combination of incoming water quality, electrical power quality, and location within the home. The usual reaction to such news is, “How can this be, if one has so much money that they can buy nearly anything?”
Let’s find the surprising answer to that interesting question by first taking a quick look at the water issues that are typical in this scenario. We will review some interesting comparisons between “western-style” and “developing world-style” drinking water, and as we go, point out some important differentiators, to which many westerners are oblivious. Let’s explore some basic facts about the quality of piped drinking water, ways to access water, and then the existing alternatives for having reliable safe water quality.
Some facts about “Drinking Water” in the less-developed world-
Throughout the vast majority of the developing world, centrally-treated and delivered water (i.e., that which is piped from a large treatment plant into homes and businesses) is NOT reliably safe for human consumption. While it might smell and appear normal, and in many cases, tastes “drinkable”, the level of microbial and chemical contamination is sometimes more than a thousand times greater than what is usually considered “safe” by most health standards. Let’s compare this water quality with typical western water standards.
In the United States, municipal drinking water (per the US EPA guidelines) must measure zero (0) e-coli colony forming units (cfu) per 100 ml (dl) sample of treated water. Similarly, treated sewage water must measure less than 200 cfu/dl sample of waste water before it can be “safely” returned to streams, rivers, and other waterways, which by the way have the same maximum limitation of 200 cfu/dl coliforms in order to be considered an in-compliance waterway. However, piped “drinking” water in less developed regions might very well measure greater than 2,000 cfu/dl of disease-causing coliform. Put in perspective, such “tap water” is at least ten times (a factor of 10x) worse than permitted North American treated sewage discharge, as well as “raw” (untreated) river water. Compared to USA-standard potable water, the tap water in Hong Kong, Mumbai, or Kinshasa could at times have pathogens levels that are a factor of at least 2,000 times higher than what is considered safe by health standards. Of course, it’s not hard to imagine the implications on the long term health of people who constantly ingest (or even are physically in contact) to such a low quality of tap water.
Available Options for Accessing Piped Water-
Normal Treatment- This is the default option if no additional treatment equipment is utilized within the home or business. Water from a large centralized treatment facility is delivered over a distance via a vast network of pipes. On the way through the distribution system, which typically has leaks (in both out and in directions), the purity of the water is usually degraded at least some, albeit unknown, amount, and in many cases, considerably. This water then enters the home (via a metered “point of entry” pipe), and passes on to the various “points of use” within the home, such as sinks, showers, and toilets. Whatever the treatment plant delivers to the point of entry, you get it everywhere.
POU (or Point of Use) Treatment- The “Normal Treatment” water (as per above) is distributed throughout the home, but some form of additional water treatment is provided at selected access points, such as a kitchen or bathroom sink. POU treatment is usually an “in-line” connection that is inserted before the tap, but the term also includes the “batch-style” carafe treatment processes, such as Brita Pitcher filters. You get whatever water improvement that your POU unit delivers at that point (only), and you get whatever the treatment plant delivers throughout the rest of the home. For example, POU units typically provide no protection to baths/showers, hot water heaters/faucets, hose faucets, laundries, and toilets.
POE (or, Point of Entry) Treatment- The “Normal Treatment” water comes to the POE treatment unit, where it is processed and from there distributed throughout the entire home. This is often called a “whole house” treatment system. Whatever water improvement that your POE unit provides, you get it delivered to all the access points throughout the home, whether it be the bathroom sink, dishwasher, shower, hot water heaters/faucets, or toilet. This is the AquaSolix SafeLight solution.
SafeLight™ Water Treatment-
The primary mission of AquaSolix Corporation is to provide discerning home and business owners a very important resource that they couldn’t get until now: peace-of-mind access to safe and high-quality water. SafeLight™ water treatment products are designed to precisely fill this crucial need, and does so by advantageously protecting an entire home or business at the building’s water point of entry. This introductory edition (Part 1) of “Safe Water for All” will soon be followed by Part 2, which will further explore the details surrounding our world water crisis, as well as the solutions that AquaSolix Corporation is contributing.
Thank you for your interest in this important work to make “Safe Water for All” a reality.
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