A human body contains about 70 percent of water. The consummating of water by a man is required for various physiology processes such as blood formation such as bold formation food assimilation etc.
The quantity of water which a man would require for drinking depends on various factors. But on the average and under normal conditions, it is about 2 litre per day. It is most essential to the degree of purity. It water for the lead to an epidemic. In fact, the drinking water should be protected, portable and palatable.
- It should be colourless and sparkling colour. It must be free from solids in suspension and deposited is sediment on standing.
- It should be of good taste, free from odour.
- It should be reasonably salt.
- It should be plentiful and cheap.
- It should be free from disease predicting bacteria or organisms.
- It should free from objectionable dissolved gases such as sulphuretted hydrogen it should, however, have sufficient quantity of dissolved oxygen.
- It should be free from harmful salts.
- It should free from objectionable minerals, such as iron, manganese, lead, arsenic and other poisonous metals.
- It should be free from a radioactive substance such as radium, strontium etc.
- It should be reasonably free from phenol compounds, chlorides, fluoride and iodine.
- It should not lead to scale formation and should be noncorrosive.
