2. Water Quality Screening Parameters

This information can be put it in a different format, so we have to step back, okay. So if somebody comes and asks is the water contaminated, is water safe to drink? So your answer cannot be, your absolute final answer can be okay give me a month's time, I will analyze whether it contains all the one lakh chemicals that we know that are that exist in nature and then I will tell you in a month's time, that is not acceptable, people won’t wait for that long. So you need a quick answer.

In scenarios where water safety is in question, it's crucial to provide a prompt answer rather than a detailed analysis that could take weeks. This emphasizes the necessity for preliminary screening methods that can quickly indicate the quality of water.

Imagine you're thirsty and you ask if water is safe to drink. Waiting a month for the answer is impractical. Instead, we need a quick way to determine if that water looks clear and smells fine, similar to how a doctor might use common signs to quickly assess a patient's condition.

Screening, we do a preliminary analysis and we say is this good or bad? Now, this is a very, it’s a bit, it’s it’s not a very from a scientific or rational point of view, you know that the answer could be wrong, but at least you have some sense of what is happening, what is there and whether where you should where you should put your these things, okay.

Screening involves a quick assessment that helps classify water as either good or bad. While the results may not be scientifically accurate, they provide a necessary initial understanding of water quality, guiding further tests if necessary.

Think of screening as a final review of a movie before its release. While a big premiere may take time and effort, having a 'sneak peek' helps you decide whether the main event is worth attending.

So, we are looking at a large number of chemicals which are which may be present in the water in the dissolved state. Yeah, so which of the compounds are important from a dissolved point of view, which are likely to have higher solubilities. Which compounds are likely to have a high solubility in water, organic or inorganic?

A wide range of chemicals can be present in water, particularly dissolved solids. Inorganic compounds, like salts and ions, generally have higher solubility compared to organic compounds, which tend to be less soluble.

Consider salt as an example of an inorganic compound that dissolves easily in water, while fats from cooking oils often do not mix well with water. This difference is why certain chemicals can be present in drinking water and how they affect quality.

One of the water quality parameters is we call it as total dissolved solids. See, the word solids is a very it is a misnomer here, it is not a it’s not an insoluble solid, it’s a solid. People have used this term, it is called as TDS and the other one is total suspended solids TSS.

Total dissolved solids (TDS) refers to all dissolved substances in water, including both organic and inorganic materials, while total suspended solids (TSS) refers to materials that are suspended in the water but do not dissolve. These parameters help assess water quality and safety.

It's akin to a juice containing both dissolved sugar and floating pulp. While the sugar is completely dissolved and gives flavor, the pulp remains suspended, impacting the texture without dissolving.

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