How to deal with tds

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VGNair, Chemical Engineer & Water Expert

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By VGNair, Chemical Engineer, Water Expert

In this article I am trying to explain the importance of TDS and how the absence of it or more of it could affect our health.

I am talking of TDS in water.

TDS = Total Dissolved Solids.

Water is a universal solvent. The very nature of it makes many things dissolve in water.

Too much dirty things dissolved in it make it give a bad smell.

Others make it taste odd! No TDS make it taste flat!

When we have bad smell and bad taste water, it is a direct indication of higher level of TDS. In this article I am trying to explain the good old techniques of imparting mineral. By telling the story, I would like the readers know the importance of TDS in their drinking water.

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As I live in Dubai, I relate my talk to Dubai pipe water as reference for the discussion.

Pipe water we get in Dubai is desalinated water and we need not worry of excessive TDS as it has undergone RO treatment to remove salts and heavy metals.

But there is more to know about TDS.

Recently I have been asked more on what is „TDS‟ and how it could affect the quality of our drinking water.

What makes people ask this question is this:

Wrong information is being spread by unscrupulous marketers of water purifying companies that “there should not be anyTDS in drinking water.”

This is not true.

TDS is only a secondary quality aspect looked for drinking water by environmental pollution agency.

If the drinking water is totally free from TDS, I would say it is not good for drinking.

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Why?

For this let us examine: what is dissolved matter in water?

They are organic matter and inorganic salts present in solution in water. As they are in dissolved state, we donâ€&#x;t see them with the naked eye. But the more the TDS, the less palatable the water is.

Organic matter is that decaying vegetation or animal debris that is reported as bad smell. It is best removed by activated carbon process.

Our major concern is those of inorganic salts.

Let us take those inorganic salts primarily as minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium etc. that are not detrimental for our health.

In fact we need plenty of them for our well- being.

Calcium would make our bones and teeth stronger. Calcium depletion is a normal phenomenon in women after child birth and they need to have additional Calcium. Calcium is easily available from Calcium Carbonate or lime and in my small village, I have learned that women after child birth were given 'thamboolam' a combination of betel leaf, arecanut and slaked lime. The slaked lime is the Calcium hydroxide that when chewed with the other two ingredients make it read color. „Thamboolamâ€&#x; is a bactericide and also supplement for Calcium. In olden days that was a must in my village for ladies during pregnancy and for a specific period immediately after child birth.

So, you will note that Calcium is an essential mineral for our body and do help us in maintaining a strong bone or teeth.

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Sodium helps in energy conservation in our body and athletes are normally given sports drink with high sodium content. When I was studying about tender coconut water the major ingredient I found in that is sodium. Tender coconut water is the best sports drink as it contain sodium in easily assimilating form!

We need to have iron too in ion form.

Iron is essentially that which gives strength and impart red color to hemoglobin in our body. We used to get it in olden days though cooking in iron vessels and also from the stone grinder we used for wet grinding. Milk products made in iron pan were the main source of iron for our body. Even villages have changed a lot and they all remain as memory now.

In absence of the old system in the modern living style, these essential minerals are to come from food we eat or the water we drink.

Donâ€&#x;t you think now that there should be TDS in our water contrary to the wrong notion or fake campaign that TDS is dangerous?

The accepted limit of TDS as per world standard (EPA) is 500 ppm. TDS 300 ppm is excellent and if only above 1200 ppm it is unaceptable. Sea water contain as much as TDS 30,000ppm or more!

How will you know this?

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The water taste will tell you. It is very easy to smell or taste the water when the TDS go high. Too much salty water or brakish water or with oily nature will all tell you that your TDS is high.

We can also get it tested in laboratories that have adequate equipment for testing TDS.

What will happen if the TDS is too low? It will give a flat taste and the best example is distilled water. Find the taste of distilled water and you will know it.

Distilled water does not conduct electricity as there are no minerals in that.

Water that contains TDS will conduct electricity.

Higher TDS might bring hardness to water and can form scale in pipe line or in boiler tubes. That is for industrial application. Water softeners do not reduce TDS and they only exchange the ions.

Higher TDS will also be an indication that it might contain heavy metals that need to be removed. Ultra filtration or RO can control the TDS to a great extent.

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Do you need to use RO purifier for Dubai pipe water? I will not recommend using RO again as it is already free from excessive TDS. What it might need to make it better drinking water is removal of pathogenic bacteria and addition of minerals.

Use a purifier that can supplement you minerals and add iron to your water.

Contact me for your total guidance on selection of water purifier for drinking water.

REAL water can make it!

For more on water purification see http://waterbest1.com Follow us on facebook: https://facebook.com/myrealwater.

‌‌.by VGNair.

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About the author: Author of this article, VGNair is a Chemical Engineer by profession and is a Well known water specialist. He has contributed much in water treatment and his articles on water are well appreciated.

He can be reached by email : vgnair@vgnair.com