The Occurrence of Aluminum in Drinking Water^*

Abstract

A random selection of 186 water utilities was used for this study in which raw and finished water samples were collected from each facility five times throughout a year and analyzed for iron and aluminum by atomic absorption techniques. The water samples were categorized by the supply source (ground, surface, or a combination of both), the type of water (raw, finished, or untreated distribution samples), and the type of coagulation used in the treatment process (aluminum sulfate, ferric chloride, other coagulants such as cationic polymers, or no coagulant). The samples were also categorized according to the 10 US Environmental Protection Agency regions and 4 population categories. The results indicate that aluminum is more likely to exist in surface waters than in groundwaters and that there is a 40-50 percent chance that alum coagulation increases the aluminum concentration of finished water above its original concentration in the raw water.

Synergy Between Moringa oleifera Seed Powder And Alum In The Purification of Domestic Water

“…The pH increases slightly with increasing concentrations of the Moringa coagulant even though Muyibi & Evison (1994) observed very high doses (400-750mg/l) of Moringa in the complete removal of total hardness in water at no significant increases in pH values. However, as earlier mentioned, high dosage of alum in water treatment even though a better coagulant may lead to high acidity raising health concerns about alum related diseases reported by several investigators (Miller et al,1984, Martyns et al,1998& Najm et al, 1998. Doer (2005) reported that the action of M. oleifera as a coagulant lies in the presence of water soluble cationic proteins in the seeds (Table 2).…”

“…However, the 100% alum dose solution moved towards more acidicity attributable to the fact that alum produces sulphuric acid in solution which lowers the pH values. This tendency towards increase in acidity could also be due to trivalent cation aluminum which serves as a lewis acid that can accept a lone pair of electrons (Miller et al, 1984). The reverse was observed when Moringa concentration of the dosing solution was increased.…”

Moringa oleifera: a food plant with multiple medicinal uses

“…Crushed seeds are a viable replacement of synthetic coagulants (Kalogo et al, 2000). In Sudan, seed crude extract is used instead of alum by rural women to treat the highly turbid Nile water because of a traditional fear of alum causing gastrointestinal disturbances and Alzheimer's disease (Crapper et al, 1973;Miller et al, 1984;Martyn et al, 1989;Muyibi, 1994).…”

Water Content of Aluminum, Dialysis Dementia, and Osteomalacia

“…Aluminum is normally present in raw water; the concentrations are usually low in ground waters and are almost always high in surface waters (22). Acid rain markedly increases the "natural" aluminum content of water.…”