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Oct 19, 2020 | Blogs, Environmental / Industrial, Food / Beverage | 0 comments
Access to clean wholesome water is a basic human right. Humans have engineered incredible methods to collect, filter, purify, store and distribute water to billions of people worldwide, but does this mean that our water is completely safe to drink? Also, how do concentrations of water contaminants differ from source to source?
Water quality testing aims to ensure the water from our household taps and supermarket shelves is safe and free from pesticides and other contaminants, but how much do we know about the contents of our water, and what are the advantages of using mass spectrometry to identify and quantify contaminants in water samples?
To help answer some of these questions, we’ve collected 5 infographics that shed some light on the state of our household water.
1. The cleanest and dirtiest water in the US
We wanted to start with an infographic that puts water quality into perspective. Using data from 2011, the image demonstrates the varying quality of drinking water at different water utilities, even somewhere as developed as the US.
The data behind this infographic took into account 4 key considerations:
2. ACTEW Water’s drinking water quality report
Crossing the Pacific, the next infographic moves away from an objective study of water quality at various utilities to a summary of an Australian utility company, ACTEW Water (now known as Icon Water) that presented the numbers behind supplying 163,000 customers with water every day of the year.
It’s interesting to see the safeguarding steps taken to protect against contaminants (including pathogenic microorganisms) from a utilities perspective.
According to the infographic, 7 steps occur before customers receive the water:
The end goal of the current processing techniques at the time is to produce the best-quality, most wholesome water.
The challenge is ensuring the utmost efficiency during the treatment process and that what comes out of the consumer’s tap is fit for consumption. The steps taken in the treatment and processing of raw water into drinking water must be monitored at each stage to make sure that they are working effectively. For example, a water treatment process may include an activated carbon filter plant that, when in operation, will remove pesticides from the raw water.
Routine monitoring of the water upstream and downstream of this plant, using mass spectrometry technology, will determine the effectiveness of the pesticide removal process. Now known as Icon Water, the utility recently published its 2015 Water Quality Report detailing the chemical composition of drinking water in Canberra, Australia.
3. Water: 21st-century challenges
For the 6th World Water Forum in 2012, Suez Environment created this infographic to show the challenges of a rising population, increasing poverty and growing demand for clean drinking water.
Based on this infographic, it is clear that nations and their water providers have an enormous responsibility to produce the amount of wholesome water required to meet demand. To help satisfy the increasing volume requirements for clean water, an untargeted water screening approach using the X500R QTOF System from SCIEX can be used to identify any potential contaminants in new water sources.
4. Why and how to invest in clean water
In this infographic, Allianz provides the numbers behind why investing in clean water not only is good for our health but also makes good financial sense for businesses and investors.
Again, the points most pertinent to this discussion are the facts surrounding water pollution. With so many contaminants being discharged into coastal water, lakes and rivers, how will our household water ever reach a consistent level of sanitation and safety throughout the world?
While we’ve touched on it a couple of times, an efficient water treatment process is paramount to the production of wholesome drinking water, and this is an area where a mass spectrometer can play a critical role. Sample throughput and turnaround are key drivers in the selection of an appropriate mass spectrometer for water testing. This technical note about screening for unknown contaminants in untreated tap water provides more information.
5. Not a drop to drink: America’s water crisis
We conclude with an infographic that puts into perspective the amount of water used by each of us on average. There’s not a lot to add to this one, but it does provide a lot of facts about how integral water is to sanitation, agriculture and general health. In my opinion, it shows a comparison of water consumption and carbon footprints, and it demonstrates how much care our water supplies require and how fragile the ecosystem is despite the water-based nature of our planet.
Learn more about SCIEX drinking water solutions, visit our webpage.
It is no secret that (bio)pharmaceutical research and development is complex, both scientific and regulatory processes. Here is an overview of just some of the ways SCIEX is working to support these challenges.
In a recent webinar, available on demand, scientists Luiza Chrojan and Ryan Hylands from Pharmaron, provided insights into the deployment of capillary gel electrophoresis (CGE) within cell and gene therapy. Luiza and Ryan shared purity data on plasmids used for adeno-associated virus (AAV) manufacturing and data on AAV genome integrity, viral protein (VP) purity and VP ratios using the BioPhase 8800 system.
Last year, Technology Networks hosted two webinars that featured groundbreaking research utilizing SWATH DIA (data-independent acquisition) for exposomics and metabolomics. Researchers Dr. Vinicius Verri Hernandes from the University of Vienna and Dr. Cristina Balcells from Imperial College London (ICL) demonstrated how a DIA approach can be successfully implemented in small molecule analysis using the ZenoTOF 7600 system. Their innovative approaches highlight the potential of SWATH DIA to enhance the detection and analysis of chemical exposures and metabolites, paving the way for new insights into environmental health and disease mechanisms.
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