Review Notes DETAILS

WATER PURIFICATION

Tap Water is water that comes from the city’s water supply. It is the water we drink (drinking water).
Even though tap water is clean and safe to drink it is not pure and may contain ions and metals that make it unsuitable for cleaning surgical instruments

Chloride is one of the ions that can be found in tap water. Chloride is especially concerning because their presence cause rust and pitting on surgical instruments

Granular Activated Charcoal (GAC) may be used as a filter to remove chloride. After using GAC, other purification process like deionization and reverse osmosis is subsequently used.
The acceptable chloride level in final water rinse is 100ppm or less
The process by which all electrically charged ions (eg. chloride ions) are removed from water is known as DE-IONIZATION
Deionized water (water without ions) is used in the FINAL RINSE for cleaning instruments.
Water is considered HARD when it contains Calcium and Magnesium ions
Hard water can cause undesirable deposits in pipes and on appliances.
To soften the water, Magnesium and Calcium ions are removed using water SOFTENERS.
To soften the water, it is passed through a cation resin tank where the calcium and magnesium ions are exchanged with sodium ions
Calcium and Magnesium carbonates leaves behind CHALKY, white substances on equipment and sinks. This white substance is called SCALE
The scale can be removed using DESCALERS
Water which contains sediments, when stirred may become CLOUDY or TURBID.

DISTILLATION
Another water purification system is DISTILLATION:
Distillation involves evaporation and condensation. When water is distilled, pure water is separated from the salts and other impurities

REVERSE OSMOSIS
REVERSE OSMOSIS is another form of water purification.
Reverse osmosis is a water purification method that uses a semi permeable membrane (molecular filter system) to remove ions, molecules, and larger particles from drinking water. Reverse osmosis will remove 90-95% of the sodium chloride from drinking water