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boiling contaminiated water

  • 12-02-2008 12:57pm
    #1
    metrovelvet
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,376 ✭✭✭


    The local water supply is contaminated with e-coli, radon, arsenic,clastrodium, ghirardia,and heavy metals.

    Does boiling purify it?


Comments

  • #2
    derek27
    Closed Accounts Posts: 489 ✭✭derek27


    boiling will kill the microbes, but wont remove the trace chemical contaminants. Where's your water supply? Reaosn i ask is because the public water supply legislation in Ireland has absolute zero tolerance for fecal coliforms, esp E. coli, and usually the supply would be cut off if they are detected during screening, or at least people would be urged not to drink it without boiling for 10 minutes... and the level of contamination with those chemical contaminants is usually kept to acceptable levels of eg 50 ppb... are you sure you're not just paranoid?


  • #3
    metrovelvet
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,376 ✭✭✭metrovelvet


    No Im not paranoid about this. It was in a local water supply report. It even went to the EU but they got some sort of extention on a time limit to clean up their act.


  • #4
    derek27
    Closed Accounts Posts: 489 ✭✭derek27


    metrovelvet wrote: »
    No Im not paranoid about this. It was in a local water supply report. It even went to the EU but they got some sort of extention on a time limit to clean up their act.

    go to this link and download the pdf file... http://www.epa.ie/downloads/pubs/water/drinking/name,24058,en.html


  • #5
    Kevster
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,980 ✭✭✭Kevster


    Clostridia are strict anaerobes and don't grow in the presence of Oxygen. As such, they will have formed endospores in the water. Boiling doesn't kill endospores. To rid them from the water you have to 'Tyndalise' it. This involves boiling once, resting the water for 30 minutes, and then boiling again. The first boil heat-shocks the endospores to grow (even in the presence of oxygen). The second boil then kills the vegetative cells that have grown from the heat-shocked endospores.


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