Water Purification

Worldwide about 900 million people lack access to water. Walking miles to fetch a jar of water is commonplace and any sources of water are not safe to drink. Combined with a lack of sanitation services (which 2.5 billion people lack), over 3.3 million people die annually from water related diseases.

The three most common and widely available water purification treatment technologies are ion exchange, activated carbon filtration, and reverse osmosis.

Water purifying treatments have seen steady growth over the past decade due to increased product selection and availability, a growing population, increased pollution of fresh water supplies, and substantial new home and building construction. While the rate of growth has abated considerably as a result of a global recession which began in 2008, the world’s population continues to grow and problems continue with water pollution. As such, the market for products that can purify the water we drink continues to grow as well.

“Water treatment” is a broad categorization of numerous methods of making water safer to use. It applies to consumers, commercial enterprises, towns and cities, office buildings, farms, and many other segments. To better understand what constitutes “water treatment” five general categories can be defined.

When the term “water treatment” is used most people will think of municipal water treatment facilities for it is from these entities that most people around the world get most of the water they use on a daily basis. Water utilities filter and otherwise treat the water they obtain from wells, reservoirs, rivers, and other sources to ensure it is safe to drink. They also capture waste water and treat it to remove the most harmful contaminants before the waste water is return to the environment. Since even the best treated water still contains some contaminants, a very large market for bottled water has arisen.