What are the effects of silica in drinking water? What is the maximum allowed concentration?
Silica (SiO2) is silicon dioxide and it is the principal component of a common kind of sand and fine rock sand. The natural concentration in raw water is in the range of 1 to 30 mg/L, even though high concentrations can be found up to 100 mg/L. Very salty water (influenced by seawater) can have values over 1,000 mg/L. Silica is inconvenient in water, because it forms deposits inside equipment, pipe lines, etc. and also because it is difficult to treat. The treatment method is by using resins (basic hard anionics) for ionic interchange or reverse osmosis. From the health point of view, silica in water is not bad. For that reason the WHO does not consider it neither include it in its guidelines for drinking water quality. It is a parameter that is not incorporated in the water quality norms of countries. The problem (and enough serious) of the silica is that when inhaling it, it causes lung illnesses including cancer of lung. The NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Heal
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