Water types

Depending on its origins, there are various water types. Next, we provide you with information about the most common types of water that can be found, such as tap water, ground water or well water.

Tap water

Studies conducted in our country indicate that pollution is not only present in water from perforations but also, poor conditions in inner household connections (piping, water tanks, overhead or storage tanks) can originate pollution or a significant increase in the existing levels, regardless of the  characteristics of the water source  in consideration.
An important fact to consider is that due to shortage, water coming from superficial sources (rivers, lakes and dams) is mixed with perforation water. This generates the presence of nitrates, residues from mining activity, arsenic attributed to soil geology and DBP (disinfection by-products) which are originated by the action of chlorine in contact with organic matter.

Ground water

Ground water is a natural reservoir of underground water that has met the needs human beings for millenniums. Unfortunately, in our time, its reliability has been reduced to alarming levels.

Similar situations arise in other Latin American countries, where even today, there is a significant portion of the population that does not have access to drinking water and they are supplied with water by means of drillings reaching the water tables. Some of them show high levels of pollution and the bacteriological contribution is the greatest influence and danger in the short term.
There are three basic factors that foster pollution:

  • Surface water filtering: Polluting practices generated by human beings at industrial and personal levels result in daily residues that are harmful for human and environmental health. Polluting liquid effluents dumped in  rivers and streams - by industries-with no prior treatment, as well as household residues improperly separated, cause groundwater pollution coming from surface water.
  • Agriculture and stockbreeding: These two economic areas have an important impact on the amount of water consumption their need for their end products as well as in water pollution. Organic and inorganic fertilizers used excessively in agriculture may lead the fertilizers surplus into the surface water and groundwater. In the case of stockbreeding, the filtering of animal excrement decomposition product, which reaches the depths when drained by rain, contributes polluting groundwater.
  • Cesspools or black wells: This last factor is, by far, the most prevalent. This is the reason why the most important agents in water deterioration are biological instead of chemical. They are originated mainly in human or animal feces and they comprise bacteria, parasites and viruses. These microorganisms may cause harmful effects in humans- in occasions very serious - which become evident through several diseases such as parasitic infections, cholera, typhoid fever and hepatitis.
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