- Distillation is perhaps the oldest of the water filtration methods known to human. This method involves several steps. Water is heated to the boiling point to kill living bacteria or organisms. As water is heated, vapor is released, which is in turn passed over to a cooling unit. As it is cooled, pure water is collected and stored in a separate container. The bad contaminants remain in the heated container.
- This method remains a popular way of water filtration used within the home. Granulated carbon, and solid block carbon, remain the only two certified filtration systems for water purification. Activated carbon contains millions of microscopic pores. These crevices trap microscopic particles away from water. The purity of water derived from this process depends on other factors such as type of carbon paper, the design of the filter and the water flow rate.
- Reverse osmosis is described as the most economical process, used to remove about 99 percent of bacteria and impurities from water. The membranes of the reverse osmosis filters are able to remove almost all of the microorganisms in the water. Reverse osmosis filtration strategy is a natural process used to isolate two solutions, each with their different concentration levels, from one another. This task is accomplished through the use of semipermeable membranes. This process is so effective that it could also remove nuclear radiation from water.
- Ultraviolet rays is one of the newer methods used for water filtration. This process uses mercury, known to be used in low pressure lamps, to clean and purify water. It also has the capability to destroy organic compounds present in water and reduce the total level of organic compounds to about 5 parts per billion.
- While any one of these methods can achieve a very high level of water purification, one often ignored danger is how the purified water is stored once the purification is completed. Unless purified and filtered water is stored under very hygienic circumstances, purified water easily becomes contaminated once again.
