Water is believed to cover approximately about 75% of the earth and 60% of the human body. This is to tell us that water is like everything in this part of the world, even part of us, we need it for survival.
Water is everywhere, and getting access to it seems to be easier these days than in the days of old because of technology in developed places, however, in villages, it's still a big concern because most of the water bodies they depend on have been polluted by many things.
I visited an old stream in my area recently and I am bitter to see it dead. Refuse and other waste have intoxicated it, that was where we used to fish while growing up. I feel so bad because back then, the locals used it for domestic activities.
How clean is my water?
I grew up knowing taps, wells, and streams as sources of water in my environment but today we have boreholes. All these sources of water are good but our environment is contaminated, germs are everywhere, in the air and on the ground.
Water goes around, recycles, and comes back to us. Imagine the kind of germs it must have come in contact with before coming back to us. I am still amazed how people who drink well and stream water survive. If only we could see the kind of germs in those waters, we would run for our dear lives.
I mean by common sense, we know that some insects and reptiles sleep in the well, no matter how properly covered it is, dirt can still access it, and for streams, cows and even people dump dirt in them. No matter how clean it looks to the eyes, it's still not safe, in fact, the safety of water is not detected by how clean it looks to the eyes.
Does that mean borehole water is the best? Unfortunately no, water has a cycle, the borehole water also comes from the earth directly, it is natural and not treated, which means it also has germs.
Sometimes I keep asking myself if there is really clean water because if it's not contaminated by germs it has chemicals. By this, I can conclude that the water around here isn't clean.
A lot of people say sachet water and bottled water are the best but I have seen people who take these water faithfully yet suffer from typhoid.
What steps do we take to make our water clean?
I am not a medical personnel, so I don't know much personally about how to make water clean, nevertheless. Boiling of water seems to be one of the cheapest and easiest ways to make water clean for consumption.
Most germs don't have the Potency to endure a certain heat limit. Whenever we boil our water to a higher temperature, it will help us destroy some of those germs, thus making the water healthy for use especially, drinking.
There was a time I got water from one of my neighbors. That was my first time using water from his house. When I bathe in the morning without boiling it first, it itches my skin. By evening it rained, so I decided to boil the same water before using and funnily enough, it didn't itch my skin again.
Boiling of water is very effective in destroying pathogens (not all though).
Apart from boiling, we can also take hygiene seriously by washing our tanks and keeping the places where we keep our water neat, if there is nothing to attract those pathogens to our water, they won't come to it.
There are other methods like the application of chemicals, but I won't suggest them because I am very sure it has side effects.
Well, I am not saying you should throw away the method that works best for you, my concern is your health, you can go on more research and find more harmless methods, I am sure there are others out there.
