With the rise in water-borne diseases, water purifiers have become a necessity for every household. The supply of water from different sources makes it very difficult to intaking water without purification.

Sources of water:

The two sources of water are groundwater and surface water.

The surface water includes rivers, streams, oceans, lakes, or any water bodies that are above the ground; the main source of surface water is rain and glacier. The TDS value of such water is 1-200ppm. On the other hand, groundwater is the water source obtained from beneath the ground.

Most of the world’s population survives on groundwater. Whereas 3% of the planet reserves freshwater and is the best source of water for human use. The TDS value of such water is 200-2000ppm.

If the water supplied to households is from different sources then the TDS values will also fluctuate. The supply of water to households are from municipal sources, rivers, bore well or tankers.

TDS:

TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids. Water with TDS values ranging between 150-300 ppm is considered to be soft water. While water with a TDS value higher than 500 ppm is considered to be hard or contaminated water. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has specified the maximum TDS limit for safe drinking water as 500ppm.

Nowadays there are many purifiers available in the market; such as tap/faucet filters, gravity-based purifiers, RO, UF, UV purifiers.

The main reasons to opt for a water purifier are:

• Safety from life-threatening waterborne diseases.
• Gets rid of all water impurities.
• Will provide purified water.
• Gives no weird taste.

Go through the below-mentioned buyer’s guide and make a perfect choice:

RO purifiers:

• Can be used for high TDS water. Recommended for purifying water.
• Must be used only in those areas that get hard water supply, using them for low TDS water will result in the water losing its essential minerals.
• It consumes a high amount of electricity. In the purification process, a lot of water gets wasted.
• In RO purifiers only water will pass through the membrane, it won’t let the monovalent ions, multivalent ions, viruses, bacteria, or suspended solids penetrate.
• It has a membrane with small pores. The size of RO membrane is approx. 0.0001 microns

UF(ultrafiltration) purifiers:

• These purifiers are not suitable for high TDS water or hard water.
• Can work without electricity. No water wastage takes place.
• In UV purifiers along with the water, monovalent ions and multivalent ions will also penetrate.
• Only viruses, bacteria, and suspended solids won’t pass through.
• It has a membrane with larger pores. The size of UV membrane is approx. 0.01 microns.

UV (ultraviolet) purifiers:

• This filter is recommended only in those areas that get low TDS water or soft water supply.
• Cannot remove any dissolved or undissolved impurities.
• UV rays pass through the water, which inactivates viruses and bacteria.
• External sediment pre-filters are required to remove the undissolved impurities and undissolved impurities.
• External carbon filters are required to remove the chlorine and some dissolved impurities.

Tap/Faucet mounted filters:

• Uses simple water purification.
• It has to be directly fitted on the taps.
• Very easy to use and small in size.
• Do not use electricity.
• Recommended only in those areas with low TDS or soft water supply which is not highly contaminated.
• These filters comprise sediment and activated carbon filters.
• The filters don’t let the large and undissolved impurities, chemicals, and microorganisms penetrate.

Gravity based purifiers:

• Somewhat similar to tap/faucet-mounted filters
• Slightly provides advanced purification.
• Only suitable in the areas with low TDS or soft water supply which is not highly contaminated.
• Has two separate inbuilt tanks, one for input or impure water and the other for output purified water