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What happens if you drink tap water? Is it possible to drink tap water? Quality of tap water.

The average city dweller uses up to several hundred liters of water per day for personal needs. To meet the needs of a multimillion-dollar metropolis, a huge amount of work needs to be done. Let's figure out where Moscow gets its water from.

Moscow water supply sources

Moscow receives more than 99% of its water from surface sources, which are water resources rec. The capital's water supply system is usually divided into three parts:

Moskvoretsky water source– the Moscow River basin above the village of Rublevo. It includes: Ruzskoye, Verkhne-Ruzskoye, Ozerninskoye, Mozhaiskoye and Istrinskoye reservoirs. The system is capable of delivering at least 29 cubic meters per second.
Volzhsky water source– Vyshnevolotsk reservoir system with a guaranteed water yield of 80 cubic meters per second. The largest reservoir, Ivankovskoe, stores about half of the system’s reserves. The Volga water source also includes: the Moscow Canal, Klyazminskoye, Pyalovskoye, Ikshinskoye, Uchinskoye, Khimkinskoye and Pestovskoye reservoirs. 90% of the volume is pumped by the capacities of the Moscow Canal.
Vazuz hydraulic system– was put into operation at the end of the seventies of the last century, intended to create a reserve and additional recharge of the Moskvoretsk and Volzhskaya systems. Guaranteed water yield of at least 17 cubic meters per second. The main reservoir is the Vazuz reservoir. The natural flow through the Vazuzu River is directed to the Volga and further to the Ivankovskoye Reservoir. It is possible to pump it into the Moskvoretskaya system through the Ruzskoe reservoir - thus replenishing the water supply sources of the city of Moscow.

Water treatment stations

Water for Moscow is prepared by four stations with a total capacity of 6.7 million cubic meters per day.

Share drinking water from the Moscow River is 60%, it is produced by stations:

Rublevskaya— provides the west and north-west of the city, as well as some cities near Moscow, for example Odintsovo.
Western– provides southwest, southeast, and south of the city

Water from the Volga makes up 40%, it is purified by stations:

Eastern— provides the east and southeast of the capital, some cities of the Moscow region, such as Reutov and Balashikha.
Northern- provides northern part capitals and cities of the nearest Moscow region, such as Mytishchi, Dolgoprudny, Khimki, Zelenograd.

So, we have dealt a little with the question of where the water in the tap comes from, now we need to say a few words about how the transformation occurs river water to drinking water.

Drinking water preparation technology

Moscow water treatment plants produce water in accordance with the requirements of safety standards. To meet existing requirements, classical cleaning technology is used. Natural water treated with reagents, settled and filtered.

In addition, the classical cleaning technology is supplemented by ozonation and sorption methods. activated carbons. Ozone sorption purification makes it possible to significantly better eliminate organic contaminants, reduce the concentration of organochlorine substances and metals, and reduce odors.

Since 2007, the use of membrane filtration began at the southwestern station for the first time in the history of Russian water supply. This technology allows you to support high quality water that meets the highest global standards, even with heavily polluted water supply sources.

In 2012, the use of liquid chlorine was stopped at all water treatment plants, in at the moment Only a new reagent is used - sodium hypochlorite.

Is it possible to drink hot tap water?

Regarding hot water, we can say unequivocally - hot water is not recommended for consumption. There are several reasons for this, hot water more intensively leaches lead from pipes and is formally contained in it without harmful substances, preventing the formation of scale in boilers.

After drinking a whole kettle of anti-scale, you, of course, will not die, you may not even feel anything, but regular use can negatively affect the condition of the body.

Do I need to drain the water?

You can drink cold tap water in Moscow, but the quality of the water depends on the condition of the pipes. Therefore, it is recommended that before pouring water for use in food, drain some water, especially in the morning.

Is it necessary to boil water?

In Moscow, water has a sufficient degree of purification for drinking in its raw form - this is guaranteed by Mosvodokanal. The organization regularly checks the quality of its products at all stages, including control from the consumers' tap.

Boiling does not guarantee getting rid of all pathogens, nor does it provide for an improvement in the chemical composition - the water definitely tastes worse.

Do I need to filter water for drinking?

Everyone must answer this question for themselves. Offer of portable and stationary filters for the home using various principles cleaning is huge now. In addition to the financial issue and ease of use, the following factors may influence the decision to purchase a filter:

Water quality control results
The condition of pipes in your home or area
Unpleasant smell of water
Your passion in a healthy way life or susceptibility to certain diseases

If you decide to use a filter, you must remember that filters require replacement or maintenance - otherwise you may get the opposite result, and the filter will pollute the water instead of cleaning it.

Just a couple of decades ago, people thought little about the potability of tap water and widely used it for domestic needs, but today everything has changed. Many began to doubt whether it was possible to drink tap water, as the environmental situation in the world had deteriorated significantly, and cases of poisoning began to be recorded in medicine tap water, and the scale left on dishes and kettles makes you think about your health.

Is it harmful to drink tap water?

Of course, water purified at city water supply enterprises meets all sanitary and epidemiological standards, but when it enters the water distribution network, it becomes secondarily contaminated. The presence of suspended substances is indicated by turbidity, colloidal compounds by color, chlorine, its derivatives and iron oxide bacteria by smell and taste. Covered with rust and harmful compounds pipes release boron, lead and arsenic into the transported liquid, which often cause allergic reactions. In addition, arsenic is a dangerous carcinogen that can cause cancer, and biooxidizable dissolved organic carbon attacks immune system, increasing the risk of developing cancer.

Now it’s clear why you shouldn’t drink tap water, but that’s not the only reason. It is no secret that drinking liquids are subject to mandatory chlorination, and although regulatory authorities claim that the concentration of chlorine in water is within normal limits and is not capable of causing significant harm to health, asthmatics and allergy sufferers experience it negative impact even in small doses. In addition, chlorine in water reacts with other organic compounds. One of these compounds is trichloromethane, and numerous experiments on laboratory animals with its participation have shown that it is the main culprit in the development of cancer in them.

Is it possible to drink boiled water?

Those who are interested in whether it is possible to drink tap water treated by boiling should answer that this way you can get rid of bacteria, but not chlorine. At elevated temperature The concentration of highly volatile components decreases, but the concentration of non-volatile components increases. You should not drink tap water because today it is considered one of the main culprits in the appearance of stones in the urinary organs. It often includes painkillers and hormones that end up in water tanks from sewers and farm wastewater.

The debate about whether drinking tap water is harmful in lately has lost some of its relevance. Perhaps everyone understands that the composition tap water is far from ideal, and for drinking or cooking it is better to use water that has been pre-treated.

And yet, for most of us, the water supply is the main source, so it will not be possible to completely abandon it. So you will have to learn to use this resource correctly, thereby minimizing harm to health.

Harmful factors

Analyzing safety, it should be noted that its quality is determined by a whole list of factors.

These include:

The purity of the source from which the water is drawn (if there is a chemical plant nearby that discharges wastewater directly into the river, then no filters will help).
Quality of centralized water treatment.
Condition of pipelines and shut-off valves.

Accordingly, even in neighboring houses, not to mention different cities and regions, the quality of tap water will vary. So in some places you can drink raw water without risk to health, but in others you will have to use only filtered liquid for washing.

And yet, why should you not drink tap water, according to most experts? The thing is that centralized treatment, which is carried out at water supply stations, can only partially optimize the composition of water. Large and small debris is removed from it, pathogenic organisms are destroyed, and the content of most substances is brought back to normal.

But even after high-quality cleaning, quite harmful components remain in the composition:

Chlorine is a major health hazard. When water is chlorinated, pathogenic microorganisms are destroyed, but the substance itself reacts with organic matter, forming carcinogenic compounds - trihalomethanes. In small concentrations they are harmless, but with gradual accumulation they can provoke the development of cancer.
In addition to chlorine, water contains nitrates and nitrites. The concentration of these components is tiny, but if consumed regularly, the liquid can cause intoxication, which is especially dangerous for infants.
It is also worth mentioning metals such as copper, nickel, cadmium, zinc, manganese, etc.. Some metals enter the water during water intake and are not removed during purification, and some - during passage. At the same time, trying to drink from the tap turns into “Russian roulette”: no one knows what portion of toxin you will get this time.
Finally, let's not forget about microorganisms. Chlorination does not always cope with bacteria and protozoa, so in regions with an unfavorable epidemiological situation, the instructions directly prohibit the use of tap water for drinking and cooking.

Pay attention!
If you come to another city, and even more so to another country, ask local residents whether you can drink tap water or whether you should buy bottled water.
This information can also be obtained by studying data on the Internet: usually such recommendations are included in instructions for tourists.

How can you protect yourself

Boiling and settling

So, we found out above that tap water itself can become a source of health problems. But even if the local sanitary and epidemiological station claims that everything is in order, this is not a reason to forget about caution, especially since there are many ways to effectively treat water.

You can disinfect water with your own hands and make it at least relatively drinkable by boiling and then settling:

Firstly, heating to 100 0 C leads to the death of most pathogens.
Secondly, when heated, chlorine, radon, ammonia and other gases evaporate from the liquid.
Settling also helps rid water of excess chlorine, but it can be used without heat treatment only if the epidemiological situation does not cause concern.

Pay attention!
Tap water should be left to stand in an open, wide-necked container for at least 12 hours.

However, when boiling, the volume of liquid decreases, which means the concentration of salts increases. In addition, heating leads to the formation of microconcentrations of chloroform, which is a carcinogen. So this technique cannot be called universal.

Filtration

More in an efficient way purification of tap water is filtration.

In this case, of course, what percentage of toxins will be removed largely depends on the filter itself:

For regions with relatively high-quality water, household “jug” filters are suitable. When passing through a cartridge installed in such a design, water loses almost all mechanical particles, part of organic suspensions, and quite large percentage salts

Pay attention!
Each cartridge is designed for a certain volume of tap water, and these elements need to be changed regularly.
Using an expired cartridge not only does not improve, but also worsens the quality of the liquid: salts and toxins concentrated on the filter begin to gradually wash out.

Flow filters, which are built into the water supply directly in front of the kitchen faucet, will be appropriate where questions arise about the quality of the water. It is best to purchase a model with three columns: the first is responsible for rough cleaning, the second is for removing small contaminants, and the third is for desalting.

Finally, you can always install a professional ion exchange filter. The price of such devices is quite high, and maintenance requires serious financial investments, but they allow you to obtain potable water in almost any situation. However, for a small family such a purchase would be irrational: for small volumes of consumption, it is easier to use bottled water.

Using offline sources

If you have private house, and you can choose whether to connect to a centralized water supply or arrange an autonomous source of water supply, then it’s worth choosing the second option.

In this case, of course, you need to take into account a number of nuances:

Firstly, before laying a well or borehole, you should familiarize yourself with the composition of groundwater. The easiest way is to contact your neighbors who have lived nearby for many years: they will definitely tell you whether natural water can be used for drinking.

Then it is necessary to properly equip the source. To do this, we install a powerful gravel filter in both the well and the well, which will prevent siltation of the lower layers. Well, if there is no silt, there will be no organic suspensions in the water.
However, even in this case you cannot do without cleaning. Before entering the house, it is advisable to install at least a primitive sand trap, and put a coarse filter on the tap - then the water can be drunk without settling.

Conclusion

Tap water is not always drinkable and not everywhere. Even in the most prosperous regions, the liquid should be filtered, boiled or settled. An exception is some wells and artesian wells, but their use is only possible in private homes. Issues of tap water quality are discussed in more detail in the video in this article.

One of my friends fell ill with dysentery. For some reason, she associated her illness with the fact that she was used to regularly drinking tap water. It happened in St. Petersburg 12 years ago. Since then, methods for purifying tap water in the city have improved significantly - does this mean that you can drink tap water without fear for your health? We asked this question to a hygienist and a representative of Vodokanal.

Andrey Mosov

expert of the portal "Roskontrol.RF"

The question concerns two aspects of tap water - indicators of its quality and safety. Is this water safe for health? Yes. Useful? Not always.

Large cities, which include Moscow and St. Petersburg, have large water supply stations equipped with last word science and technology that guarantee the safety of tap water. The indicators can be seen on the websites of Rospotrebnadzor and Vodokanals themselves.

On the other side, major cities, as a rule, are supplied with water from surface sources - rivers, lakes and reservoirs. Such water is not very attractive in taste and smell during the period of flowering of reservoirs, and during the flood period it may contain sewage washed away from fields and roads. The quality is unstable and depends on the season. But the cleaning and disinfection system even in such cases guarantees microbiological safety.

The second problem that is relevant for our country is the deterioration of water supply networks in some areas, especially older buildings. The destruction of pipes leads to the fact that harmful substances can enter the water. And stagnation of water at the end sections of networks with small daily water withdrawals can lead to a deterioration in its microbiological parameters. Therefore, when reaching your apartment, the water may become of poor quality and even unsafe. Fortunately, our senses are able to detect water non-compliance with standards for many safety indicators, for example, the content of iron, manganese, copper, zinc, phenols, nitrates, nitrites, petroleum products, hydrogen sulfide, surfactants and, of course, chlorine. Therefore, you should trust your senses and not drink water that tastes or smells suspicious.

If we talk about small towns
And rural areas, then residents there drink much more often water with increased content gland

Water from surface sources contains few useful elements, and purification often reduces their content to zero. That's why mineral composition leaves much to be desired: unlike groundwater, surface water has little calcium, magnesium and fluorine. If there is no calcium and magnesium in the water, consumption will contribute to the development of a deficiency of these substances in the body. Calcium is the main element of our skeletal system, magnesium is necessary for normal operation nervous system and hearts. Lack of fluoride causes tooth decay, lack of iodine causes disease thyroid gland. Therefore, if a person does not have other sources of fluoride (toothpastes, sodium fluoride tablets), then caries due to drinking tap water is almost inevitable, and a reduced amount of calcium and magnesium will aggravate the deficiency of these typical for most Russians minerals in the diet.

If we talk about small towns and rural areas, then residents there are much more likely to drink water with a high content of iron and some other substances, the excess of which is harmful to humans.

Some consumers, afraid to drink tap water, try to buy bottled water. But there are some subtleties here too. Roskontrol conducted a large-scale study of bottled water (including cooler and children's water), and we found more than 60% of the tested samples to be unsafe or non-compliant. The producer can bottle water from a well, or he can take water from the tap, pass it through filters, bottle it and sell it. Many people do this. Pay attention to the inscription on the bottles “water from a centralized water supply source” - this is tap water that has undergone modern methods cleaning.

Natalia Ipatova

Director of the Department of Information and Public Relations of the State Unitary Enterprise "Vodokanal of St. Petersburg"

In our city, the main source of drinking water is the Neva River. In St. Petersburg, water undergoes two-stage disinfection: with the help of reagents (sodium hypochlorite; the use of liquid chlorine in the city was completely abandoned in 2009) and by treatment with ultraviolet light. Sodium hypochlorite effectively fights bacteria, and ultraviolet light destroys viruses. By the way, St. Petersburg was the first among megacities in the world to provide ultraviolet treatment of all drinking water - this happened in 2008.

Quality control is carried out at all stages - from the moment of water intake from the Neva to the water metering unit at the entrance to the house. Those rare cases, when deviations from standard values are recorded in tap water at the water metering stations of houses, they are associated exclusively with the iron content in the water. Neva water is naturally soft. This is very good quality for everyday use - in particular, washing machines and dishwashers operating in St. Petersburg do not require special water softeners - but it is the natural softness of our water that makes it corrosive. And in St. Petersburg - more precisely, then in Leningrad - during the period of active housing construction in the 1970s and 80s, steel was used for water supply networks, which, unfortunately, is very susceptible to corrosion processes. And in some cases, corrosion products, that is, iron compounds, may appear in drinking water. However, in such quantities they do not pose a risk to public health. Vodokanal is now actively engaged in solving the problem of high iron content at specific addresses, and in coming years this issue will be completely removed.

Just three or four generations ago, people simply did not face this question. Here is the tap, clear, odorless water pours out of it, which means we drink to our health! But the fact is that the quality of tap water cannot be determined by eye.

“Easy Useful” will help you figure out why you shouldn’t drink raw water.

Dangers of tap water

How to purify tap water

We know that drinking raw water is not recommended, and out of habit we boil it. Boiling will indeed rid the water of bacteria, but not the chlorine content. You can get rid of this harmful chemical by letting the water sit in open containers for several hours, the longer the better. And the already settled water should then be boiled.

You can also get rid of harmful impurities by freezing water. Clean water freezes faster, so watch out: as soon as half of the water from the total volume has become ice, you can safely pour out the rest. You can drink the water formed after the ice melts without risk to your health. It can also be used for cooking.

A completely affordable option would be to switch to bottled water. First, make sure that the storage conditions are appropriate. Water should not be exposed to direct sunlight, and the packaging must be free of defects. Secondly, pay attention to technical specifications(TU) on bottled water labels. So, for example, “TU 9185-...” means that when cleaning chemical composition water has not undergone any change, and its natural properties were saved. But “TU 0131-...” indicates that water purification in this case changed its composition. That is, this water may be obtained from a water supply or a well, and, accordingly, its quality will be lower.

Be sure to recycle empty bottles. Read more about this at recyclemap.ru

Another way to purify tap water is filtration. The most common types of filters are “jugs” and flow-through filters with the installation of a separate tap. They do a good job of purifying water from impurities and heavy metals.

So, is it possible to drink raw tap water? Most likely, nothing bad will happen if you take a couple of sips of this water. But drinking it on a regular basis is not recommended. Choose for yourself the best way get quality drinking water and be healthy!