Don’t open the tap fully!
A few days back the water purifier at home broke down. We called the service center & lodged a complaint but the service guy didn’t turn up until four days later. So in the meantime we had no option but to use the corporation water (drinking water supplied by BWSSB) directly. For someone who is so used to drinking purified water, this experience can be difficult. The tap on the ground floor was opened after a long time and immediately some indescribable sounds emanated out of it & only then the water began to flow. But the water flowed freely & with much force. Not someone who enjoys doing something like this I opened the tap completely. Within a minute or so the vessel was full. I observed the color of the water, it didn’t look clear. But we had to make do with that until the service guy showed up.
Around lunch time when I dipped a tumbler in the water & drank some of it, it didn’t taste very good. In the evening when I did the same thing I noticed that the bottom of the vessel was full of….what should I call it? Mud like particles? It was very fine. It had settled down at the bottom. That is when I realized what a great job the water purifier was doing and that is when I thought this is the exact water that lakhs of other people in Bangalore drink as well.
This was the routine for a few days. No one complained. Everyone at home got along with it. A few days later my brother came up with a solution for it. He said when you are filling up the vessel don’t open the tap fully but open it just enough for the water to flow out. It will be slow but it will not be muddy. It made sense in a way but also didn’t in a way. But there was no harm in trying it so we tried it. And it worked. The tap was not completely opened. The water in the vessel looked much clearer this time. And later in the evening there was no mud like particles at the bottom of the vessel.
It was such a simple thought that, and yet so effective.
Not everybody uses a water purifier but everybody needs & drinks water. So most of them drink this kind of water in Bangalore day in and day out and I am sure they have their techniques to purify (?) it. This was our technique.
Maybe you could have used a cloth to purify tap water..it could have saved u time !! ..proves that sometimes simplest solutions are hardest to find :P
A thought arises as to whether the condition of the water pipe line to the house has rust or other contaminants which caused the particulates in the water.
Contamination in the water supply itself is usually dissolved fully in the water.
I would tend to agree with GB…but it would be best to boil the water thoroughly for 20 min if you have any doubts about the water. Water-borne diseases can be at best debilitating, and at worst, fatal.
But I would like to make another point…in many homes, there is a water filter, but the candles/UV element are not changed regularly…the charcoal filter may be all that is actually working.
Hahahaa! Did it not strike you to atleast boil the water before drinking? I am sure thats what we all did before the advent of the water filters, Aquaguards and RO’s. It shows how far we have come in development, that we can’t even remember what our parents/we did not so long ago!
Anyway, I do hope you don’t fall sick.
What you see is just particles of dirt accumulated in the pipes. After a long while of running it on full-blast that would disappear. That visible dirt is really of no concern health-wise.
It’s the stuff you can’t see that should scare you: protozoa, bacteria, and viruses.
The following things ought to make you want to boil your water: cholera, dysentery, hepatitis, typhoid.
Simple trick, great. Wondering how far it is applicable at most of the taps.
Another tip can be this. Put very little alum in the water. Set aside for a couple of hours. All the dissolved solids will settle at bottom. Transfer water to a different container with out disturbing the settled matter.