Water comprises more than 75% of the Earth surface. If the Earth water were evenly distributed over the surface, the thickness of such a layer would be equal to almost 4 km.

Quantity of water in living tissues is 6 times higher than water mass in all rivers of the globe. As an example, water proportion in plants is 90%, and that in an adult body – 65%. At the same time it takes from 5 to 10 days for the water of a human body to be fully refreshed. The amount of the water to circulate annually in a human body is more than a million tons.

Water is the strongest dissolvent. For example the seawater contains near 70 elements of the periodic system. Gold alone has been dissolved in the waters of the oceans in the amount of 3 kilograms per capita.

Fresh water takes only 2 % of the whole water resource of our planet. Near 70% of that size of water is accumulated in glaciers and a laying blanket of snow, the bulk of which are in the Antarctica.

Water has huge heat capacity. For example, cooling a cubic metre of water by 1 centigrade degree can heat 3 centigrades 1000 m of air.

To melt a kilogram of ice takes 2 times more heat than to found steel and 15 times more than to found lead.

Consumption of water reaches 50% in agriculture, 40% in industry, 10 % for domestic demands. As an example, to cultivate a ton of wheat takes 1500 tons of water, that of rice more than 7000 tons, and that of cotton near 10000 tons. As regards industry, to produce a ton of synthetic rubber takes about 2000 cubic metres of water, and to smelt a ton of nickel wastes 4000 cubic metres of water.

Daily consumption of water reaches 2,5 litres per person. Presently people use about 54% of fresh water resource. By the year of 2025 this figure will have raised 75% merely owing to the growth of population. The areas with no fresh water or its famine form near 60% of the mainland. At present moment 1,1 billion people do not have access to fresh water. The regions with water famine accommodate 470 million people. By the year of 2050 4,2 billion people will have lived in the countries where it will be impossible to supply a person with a daily need of water, which is 50 litres.

Poor water is the reason for 80% of illnesses in developing countries. Near 500 million people suffer from diseases caused by polluted drinking water or water famine.

95% of waste water and 70% of factory waste in developing countries are being disposed to reservoirs without filtration. Over 50% of water-supplies have expired their life period, and 70% of enterprises do not have waste disposal plants.

Annually Europe spends $11 billion on ice-cream, the amount of money which is needed to provide our planet with water and appropriate hygiene and sanitary conditions.

The average distance which is being covered regularly by African and Asian women to get water for their families is equal to 6 kilometres. The weight of water, which is being carried by African and Asian women on their heads is equivalent to airport standards of allowable baggage (20kg).

Prototype of a modern cooling plant appeared in the USA in the early 1990’s and was named “drinking fountain”. It was invented by an American, Halsey Taylor after a private tragedy. Having drunk muddy water his father had passed away from typhus. Repetition work of the devices with pure drinking water has been arranged by Halsey Taylor’s fellow countryman, Luther Haws, a sanitation inspector from the city of Berkeley. In 1909 he established Haws Sanitary Drinking Faucet Company, which took out a patent for ‘drinking fountains manufacture in 1911. In 1950’s the devices with pure drinking water started to get equipped with cooling systems. During the three following decades the coolers underwent a series of changes in terms of design and became more compact. Furthermore they started to win the space in the offices of major American corporations. Their rapid distribution peak fell on the late 1990’s. It was largely accounted for by the fashion for ecologically clean food products. According to Consumer Reports magazine, an average American citizen annually consumed only 6 litres of pure drinking water in 1980 as compared to 60-70 litres in 2001.

A percentage of carbon and sulfuric salts of calcium, magnesium and iron determines water hardness. If their percentage is low water is soft, otherwise it is hard. In hard water vegetables and meat are difficult to boil soft as salts of calcium together with food proteins form insoluble compounds. Hard water is badly assimilated in a human body, being accumulated in different organs and tissues hampering their normal functions. Tea is badly brewed in hard water, its flavor qualities being reduced. Very hard water is unpleasant for washing and laundering as consumption of detergents increases. To define hardness of water is easy. One just needs to see how soap foams, and check if there is a sediment after boiling and settling. Thin coating inside a kettle and poor soap effect point to an increased hardness off water. In a day-to-day life the only way to reduce hardness of water is to boil it before every time of use. However boiled water is of small use in terms of health-giving.

The main feature of water quality is its purity. There are certain hygienic regulations i.e. maximum concentration limits (hereafter MCL) of harmful substances in natural reservoirs. Maintenance of these MCL contributes to health safety of the population as well as favorable sanitary conditions of everyday consumption of water. So far over a thousand of MCL of harmful substances in natural reservoirs has been identified. Polluted water may contain the following substances:

- fertilizers and their components used in agriculture and law-and-garden lots as well as those washed by rain into reservoirs from which they could get into a water pipe;

- trichloroethylene and benzol, which affect on a human organism is pernicious; these substances are usually to be found in river areas of waste disposal;

- asbestos and lead compounds fall into tap water in the process of piping after initial filtration; these substances cause numerous allergic reactions. The main reason for these substances to fall into a water-pipe is untimely replacement of worn-out communications.

- Chlorine is used for water disinfection. Not only does it make water obnoxious and turoid but contributes to various allergic reactions;

- bacteria propagate themselves within a domestic purifier on filters of some devices during their operation period. They can fall into filtered water especially the one to have been filtered with expired devices.

The technical condition of water units from which drawoff for water facilities is being made is essential as well. At present, in accordance with the relevant classification of water units in terms of pollution only up to 1% of water resource is regarded as pure, which is water class 1. Over 17% of water units have class 4, which means extremely polluted (Belarus statistics is not provided, the data on the Russian federation are given).

To purify tap water at home it is recommended that one add 1-2 tea spoons of apple vinegar and honey, 3-5 drops of 5% iodine per litre (such an environment kills microbes in a few minutes). 10-15 rowan-tree leaves per 1-3 litres pure water in 2 hours (even stagnant water). It is also possible to use berry extract or fermented fruit juice to purify water.

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