What are the contaminants in the water?
Contaminated water can contain microbiological, mineral, or chemical pollutants. Drinking water is most often contaminated by human and animal fecal waste. The microbiological contaminants are the most common cause of health problems and wide spread diseases, and PWW focuses solely on removing the biological contaminants. These contaminants lead to medical conditions such as diarrhea, dysentery, gastroenteritis, hepatitis, and typhoid fever. The World Health Organization (WHO) uses coliform bacteria levels as an indicator of microbiological contamination. WHO defines clean water for small communities without central water distribution as water with coliform bacteria counts below 10 parts per 100rnL. Persistent failure to reach this standard, especially with the presence of E coli, indicates that the water is unacceptable for human consumption.
