subject: Factors Affecting the Quality of Water [print this page] Factors Affecting the Quality of Water Factors Affecting the Quality of Water
There are many factors affecting the quality of water. There is location, source and outside contaminates. As for location, obviously if you live in a marshy area, there is going to be more brackish water. Flowing water tends to be a little cleaner, since the microorganisms don't breed well in running water. Silt and marine life waste doesn't collect in running water either. City water is usually cleaner than well water, but not always. There is livestock and farming run off in rural areas, there is chemical treatment in urban locations.
The source of the water can be very important. In larger towns and cities, they have waste treatment facilities, and use chemicals and filtration to clean the water. With a private well, there can be contaminates from underground, factories, and farms affecting the water table. Underground metals and chemicals can be very dangerous, so you should always have well water tested. Artesian wells are good due to the source being the aquifer underground, tapping into running underground springs that have naturally filtered through the Earth. This is not to say it is pure, you should still have it tested.
Outside contaminates are mainly what gets dumped into the ground water, such as flooding in the area, heavy rains, run off from landfills., etc. Animal activity, and what they have ingested affects the ground water, as well as the human factor. Mining and other underground activity can disturb the soil and drop contaminates in the ground water, these are all factors affecting the quality of water, natural lakes and piped into the home.
