What is alum water? 5 effective ways to treat alkaline water

Your water source has a sour taste, a fishy smell, and there is scum floating on the surface of the water, which means the water has been contaminated with alum. So how does alkaline water affect health? Tips to treat alum water? Let’s find out together with lassho.edu.vn in this article!

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What is alum water? How to identify alum contaminated water?

Alum-contaminated water is a condition in which water has a cloudy yellow color, a fishy odor, and when tasted, the water has a slightly acidic taste. When the water is contaminated with alum in the bucket, from 10 to 15 minutes, the phenomenon of water precipitation occurs, a layer of scum floats on the surface of the water and turns brick yellow.

Besides, indicators of water quality such as TDS, water hardness, pH may exceed the allowed level.

When tasting water with a slight sour taste, low pH in water, scum floating on the water surface, when washing makes clothes yellow, the water is contaminated with alum. In particular, water heavily contaminated with alum has an extremely unpleasant fishy odor.

Causes of water contaminated with alum

There are many reasons leading to alum contamination of water, some common causes can be mentioned as:

• Soil characteristics caused by acid sulphate: This often occurs in lowland areas. Iron pipes will also corrode and rust faster when containing water contaminated with alum over time.
• Water pollution: This seriously affects the groundwater, leading to reduced water quality and the possibility of contamination of some toxic impurities: ammonium, arsenic, nitrite, H2S, lead,… negative effects on human health.
• The content of sulfate anions in water increases: Alum is made up of sulfate anions SO4-2 and cations of two metals with different valences, which are double salts with an octahedral crystal structure. Too much sulfate anion content in water will cause the water source to be contaminated with alum.

Health effects of alkaline water

The use of untreated alum contaminated water will cause many dangerous diseases for your health such as:

• Hepatitis A: Causes nausea, jaundice, fever, diarrhea and, worse, can lead to acute liver failure.
• Typhoid: Causes fever, abdominal pain, rash, headache.
• Dysentery: Causes severe diarrhea, fever, and abdominal pain.
• Cholera: Causes diarrhea, severe dehydration, fever, abdominal pain, and vomiting.
• Other health problems: Inflammation, flaking skin, drier hair, and yellowing teeth.

Using well water for a long time can lead to the risk of many chronic diseases, even cancers, because in alum contaminated water there are bacteria, toxic heavy metals. harmful as:

• Arsenic (arsenic): May increase risk of skin or lung cancer.
• Mercury: In the aquatic environment, it causes central nervous system disorders.
• Nitrates: This is a base that poses a health hazard to people of all ages, especially infants under 6 months of age.
• Sulfate: Causes diseases related to the gastrointestinal tract such as dysentery, diarrhea.

Other effects of alkaline water on daily life

In addition to the effects on the health of users, alum contaminated water also brings many other harmful effects in the process of living such as:

• When using alum-contaminated water for washing, over time clothes will become dull, yellow stains appear, rough and damaged faster.
• Water contaminated with alum causes scale and rust, corrosion and yellowing of tools and containers, especially metal ones.
• For food, water contaminated with alum causes metamorphosis, changes in color and taste.
• When alum-contaminated water comes into contact with plants, it can cause pests and kill plants, especially crops.

The most effective way to treat alkaline water

Due to the harmful effects and effects that alum contaminated water brings, you need to overcome and treat them. Here are a few suggestions for effective alum water treatment.

Use kitchen ash

Kitchen ash is an extremely easy to find and very useful water filter material. First, you put about 5 to 10 grams of kitchen ash in a basin of water that needs to be de-alum, for about 15-20 minutes. At that time, the chemical reaction between the ingredients in the kitchen ash with alum water will take place. Kitchen ash will remove insoluble iron compounds and provide clean, safe water.

At the end of the reaction, kitchen ash and harmful substances will settle on the bottom of the pot. You can easily filter the clean water that has been de-aluminated and use it right away.

Remove alum with lime

Similar to kitchen ash, to filter alum water, you add lime to the water and wait for about 15-20 minutes. Then, a chemical reaction occurs that makes the iron present in the water be reduced, resulting in an alum-free water, safe for health.

This method has been widely used because of its simplicity and convenience.

Water treatment with alum

• Step 1: You prepare 1g alum for about 20 liters of water.
• Step 2: Dissolve the amount of alum equivalent to the volume of water to be removed by scooping a ladle of water and then slowly dissolving the alum. Then put them in a container of water and stir well.
• Step 3: You leave the alum dissolved in the water for about 30 minutes for the sediment to settle to the bottom.
• Step 4: After the sediment settles to the bottom, you can decant the de-alum water to use.

Build a home water filter

Many people often carefully set up a water filter tank for their family. This method costs more, area and effort, but in return they can rest assured that the water has been removed from alum. At the same time, this filter tank can be used for a long time.

This is a method that requires technicality, depending on the conditions where you live, your needs, you can refer to useful information sources around you (learn from people who have made filter tanks, . ..) to assist in the design and construction of a water filter tank suitable for families.

Using water filter devices

In the current technological era, the installation and use of a water filtration system is very necessary, it brings a lot of convenience and especially provides enough clean water for daily life and production including in the rainy or dry season. With many advanced technologies, compact design and high efficiency, water purifiers are being used by families.

Just go to lassho.edu.vn and buy for your family a water purifier with outstanding quality and a reputable brand, you have an extremely effective and safe water filtration system.

With the 5 solutions for alum water treatment mentioned above by lassho.edu.vn, hopefully you can choose and apply the appropriate alum water treatment method to ensure safety for your health. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below so we can answer them!