Water purification is often a necessity on private islands. Treatment can reduce common contaminates, such as sediment, calcium, iron, magnesium, sulfate, nitrates, arsenic, lead, bacteria and viruses. Water treatment can produce cleaner, safer, better tasting, and better smelling water, better suited for household use.

Although there is a wide variety of treatment technologies each of them only treat specific types of contaminates (i.e. UV filtration only kill’s bacteria and viruses). Thus, most household water treatment systems contain a number of different technologies each designed to serve a different process in the water filtration process. These systems typically include the following components.

1. A sediment filter to trap particles including rust and calcium carbonate.
2. A second sediment filter with smaller pores to filter out smaller material.
3. An activated carbon filter to trap organic chemicals, and chlorine.
4. A reverse osmosis (RO) filter which is a thin film composite membrane that removes a wide variety of minerals, chemicals and bacteria.
5. A second carbon filter to capture those chemicals not removed by the RO membrane.
6. An ultra-violet lamp is used for disinfection of any microbes that may escape filtering by the reverse osmosis membrane.

Water Treatment System Prices:

Prices of water filtration on an island depend on the type and availability of water on the island. For a system that is attached to a single tap, prices start at around $200.If you are interested in a total home filtration device the combines many of the technologies listed above, expect to pay between $1,000 and $2,000 for these systems. Most importantly have your water tested first to determine both the type of contaminates and the amount of contamination. This will help you determine what type of system you need.

Filed under: Sanitation & Development, Waste Water Treatment, Water Purification