Resource Type: Technical Guidance

  • Flouride Fact Sheet


    Fluorine is a natural trace element and exists in almost all soils. Fluoride is classified as any binary compound of fluorine with another element. Perhaps the most widely known use of fluoride is its addition to public drinking water supplies at about one milligram per liter (mg/L) of a fluoride salt, measured as fluoride, for…

  • Pharmaceuticals, Personal Care Products and Endocrine Disrupting Compounds


    The presence of pharmaceuticals, personal care products and endocrine disrupting chemicals (PPCP/EDC) in water supplies has been known for many years, dating back to the 1980’s and before. Much of the original concerns were associated with reports of physiological abnormalities associated with fish and other aquatic organisms in areas near or surrounding discharge sites of…

  • Magnetics Report


    The content of the following report has been prepared by a special task force established by the Water Quality Association and represents the review by the members of the task force of a bibliography of scientific papers and information generally available to the public or released by the authors themselves. The views of the individual…

  • Consumption of Low TDS Water


    Since the beginning of time, water has been both praised and blamed for good health and human ills. We now know the real functions of water in the human body are to serve as a solvent and medium for the transport of nutrients and wastes to and from cells throughout the body, a regulator of…

  • Fracking Lifecycle 


    Hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as “fracking”, is a method used in the oil and natural gas industry for extraction of methane and hydrocarbons to be converted into energy. Fracking allows for extraction in areas that were previously unattainable due to rock formations not being permeable enough for conventional methods. The recent ability for horizontal…

  • Residential Water Reuse Fact Sheet


    Residential water reuse is a topic of increasing interest. With growing water shortages in the Southwestern United States and other areas, the ability to reuse water onsite as opposed to sending it all to a wastewater treatment facility becomes more and more appealing. Additionally, reuse of water is generally considered to be a part of…

  • Ultraviolet (UV) Light Fact Sheet


    Ultraviolet (UV) light utilizes radiation disrupting cellular DNA to kill microbes but is not utilized for removal of chemical contaminants. This treatment tool is generally used as a final step in reverse osmosis (RO) systems to improve the efficiency of microbe removal originating from the source water or that may grow in the POU system over time.…

  • Reverse Osmosis (RO) Fact Sheet


    Reverse osmosis (RO) is a process where water and contaminants are separated by passage through a thin semipermeable membrane. The membrane creates a barrier between water molecules and chemical or microbial contaminants as high-pressure forces water through the membrane, leaving contaminants behind. RO systems can remove most organics, metals and nitrate but are often used…

  • Ion Exchange Fact Sheet


    Water is the universal solvent that is able to dissolve a little bit of everything it touches. It could, therefore, be said that “pure” water does not exist. Even the most highly processed and purified water still contains trace levels of gases, salts or minerals that have been leached from its containment vessel or absorbed…

  • Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) Fact Sheet


    The use of granular activated carbon (GAC) for water purification became common around the start of the 20th century (1906) when the “activation” process was applied to charcoal (which had been used for centuries). Thermal activation of charcoal greatly improves its pore volume, surface area and structure making it a superb workhorse for water treatment.