Fresh water
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Fresh water is a Naturally Occurring, Widely Available material. It is by definition a legitimate source material for this project. It is water obtained from the natural environment with a sufficiently low salt content (0.5g/L) that it is not considered salt water. This does not imply that it is safe to drink.
Uses
Primary
- Feedstock for water
Natural occurrence
{{#evt: service=youtube |id=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUPgSTUxcxU |alignment=right |dimensions=320x200 }} Fresh water can be obtained from many sources:
- Groundwater (springs and wells) is generally fresh water.
- Fresh Water occurs naturally as both rain and dew, as well as snow, sleet, and hail.
- Generally flowing water is fresh, so rivers and streams are good sources of fresh water
- Lakes usually contain fresh water
- Structural water occurs in many minerals. (e.g. Epsomite)
- Many plants contain an abundance of fresh water.
Hazards
- Drowning
- Overconsumption (>= 2L/hr for multiple hours when normally hydrated) can lead to hyponatremia
- Contaminated water can contain many pathogens
Production
Collect in watertight containers from any of the sources above.
Purification
Removal of biological contaminants
- Filtration
- Ultraviolet irradiation
- Chlorination
Removal of insoluble particulates
- Settling
- Filtration
- Flocculation and another filtration
Removal of chemical contaminants
- Addition of soluble iron III and aluminum III (chlorides, nitrates, and to a certain degree sulfates) can remove many common anions (hydroxides and carbonates)
- Distillation is an expensive but highly effective method of water purification, but a distillation rate of 2 (0.05ml) drops per second gives 0.1ml/s. This would require 3H20m per liter.