Glossary of Terms
| ACTIVATED CARBON | A granular material usually produced by the roasting of cellulose-based substances, such as wood or coconut shells, in the absence of air. It has a very porous structure, and is used in water conditioning as an absorbent for organic matter and certain dissolved gases. Sometimes called "Activated Charcoal". | |
| BACTERIA | Unicellular micro-organisms which typically reproduce by cell division. Although usually classified as plants, bacteria contain no chlorophyll. | |
| CHLORINE | A gas, CL,, widely used in the disinfection of water and an oxidizing agent for organic matter, iron, etc. | |
| CONTAMINATION | The addition of foreign matter to a substance which reduces the value of the substance, or interferes with its intended use. | |
| DEIONIZATION | The removal of all ionized minerals and salts, both inorganic and organic, from a solution by a two- phase ion exchange procedure. Hydrogen and hydroxide ions introduced in this process unite to form water molecules. The term is often used interchangeably with demineralization. | |
| DEMINERALIZATION | The removal of ionized inorganic minerals and salts, not organic materials, from a solution by a two- phase ion exchange procedure, similar to deionization, and the two terms are often used interchangeably. | |
| DISINFECTION | A process in which pathogenic, disease producing bacteria are killed, may involve disinfecting agents such as chlorine, ultraviolet light, or a physical process such as heating. | |
| E-COLI | Escherichia Coli, one of the members of the coliform group of bacteria indicating fecal contamination. | |
| FECAL | Matter containing or derived from animal or human wastes. | |
| FILTER | Specifically a device or system for the removal of solid particles, suspended solids in general, including mechanical adsorptive, oxidizing and neutralizing filters. Non-health related. | |
| FILTER AREA | The effective area through which the water approaches the filter media; often expressed in square feet. | |
| FLOW CONTROL | A device designed to limit the flow of water or regenerant to a predetermined value over a broad range of inlet water pressures. | |
| FLOW RATE | The quantity of water or regenerant which passes a given point in a specified unit of time; often expressed in gallons per minute (GPM). | |
| GALLON | A common unit of liquid volume. The U.S. gallon has a volume of 231 cubic inches or 3.78533 liters; the British (Imperial) gallon has a volume of 277.418 cubic inches or 4.54596 liters. | |
| HARDNESS | A characteristic of natural water due to the presence of dissolved calcium and magnesium. Water hardness is responsible for most scale formation in pipes and water heaters, and from insoluble "curd" when it reacts with soaps. Hardness is usually expressed in grains per gallon, parts per million , or milligrams per liter; all as calcium carbonate equivalent. | |
| LITER | The basic metric unit of volume. 3.785 liters equals I U.S. gallon. I liter of water weighs 1000 grams. | |
| MICRON | A linear measure equal to one millionth of a meter or .00003937 inch. The symbol for the micron is the Greek letter "M". | |
| MICRON RATING | The term applied to a filter or filter medium to indicate the particle size above which all suspended solids will be removed throughout the rated capacity. As used in industry standards, this is an "absolute" and not "nominal" rating. | |
| ORGANIC MATTER | Substances of/or derived from plant or animal matter as opposed to inorganic matter derived from rocks and minerals. Organic matter is characterized by its carbon-hydrogen structure. | |
| OZONE | An unstable form of oxygen (0,), which can be generated by an electrical discharge through air or regular oxygen. It is a strong oxidizing agent and has been used in water conditioning as a disinfectant. | |
| PARTS PER MILLION (PPM) | A common basis for reporting the results of water and wastewater analysis by indicating the number of parts by weight of a dissolved or suspended constituent by per million parts by weight of water or other solvent. In diluted water solutions, one part per million is practically equal to one milligram per liter; which is the preferred unit. 17/12 PPM equals one grain per U.S. gallon. | |
| PERMANENT HARDNESS | Water hardness, due to the presence of the chlorides, sulfates of calcium, and magnesium, in which will not be precipitated by boiling. This term is largely replaced by "non-carbonated hardness". | |
| REVERSE OSMOSIS | A process that reverses, by the application of pressure, the flow of water in a natural process of osmosis so that the water passes from the more concentrated to the more dilute solution through a semi-permeable membrane. | |
| R.O. | The abbreviation for "Reverse Osmosis". | |
| SOFT WATER | Any water which contains less than 1.0 GPG (17.1 mg/L) of hardness minerals, generally expressed as "calcium carbonate". | |
| STERILIZATION | A process in which all living organisms are destroyed. | |
| TDS | The abbreviation for "total dissolved solids". | |
| TURBIDITY | A measure of the amount of finely divided suspended matter in water which causes the scattering and absorption of light rays. Turbidity is usually reported in arbitrary units determined by measurements of light scattering. | |
| ULTRAVIOLET | The UVC band of the electromagnetic spectrum where disinfection takes place. | |
| copyright 1999, the Water Mechanic last revised: July 12, 1999 web services: ForrTrev Web and Technology Services |
|