System for Decontaminating Well Water for Drinking

描述（由申请人提供）：大约15%的美国人口从威尔斯井、蓄水池和泉水中获得饮用水。因此，超过4 500万人无法获得经过水处理厂处理的水。这并不一定是坏事，因为美国的大多数地下水都是安全饮用的;但仍有许多情况下，地下水受到污染，不适合或不健康饮用。不仅溶解的金属是一个问题，而且可溶性阴离子，如高氯酸盐，硝酸盐和亚硝酸盐在较高浓度下也是危险的。美国地下水中的常见污染物，包括天然和人造来源，包括大量的氯化镁和氯化钙（正常的硬度来源），重金属（如铅），有机污染物（如农药），以及微量的有害物质，如砷，高氯酸盐，硝酸盐和亚硝酸盐。目前，大多数常见的家庭入口点水净化系统主要由碳过滤器和水软化器组成，这两者都不是为了去除危险的离子污染物，如砷酸盐，高氯酸盐，硝酸盐和铅。活性炭过滤器只能去除0.55米以下的悬浮固体，同时吸附一些溶解的污染物，主要是有机物。水软化剂被设计成去除金属阳离子（例如，镁，钙），使水硬，并不会消除溶解的有毒阴离子。因此，家庭中可能存在进入点井水净化系统，但是即使饮用水已经被过滤和软化，危险的离子污染物也很可能仍然存在于饮用水中。到目前为止，还没有一种小型的使用点技术可以从饮用水由井供应的家庭中去除井水中的多种离子污染物。离子交换或反渗透等技术可以完成这项任务，但对于单一家庭使用，这些技术通常需要大型设备，操作成本太高，并且定期维护是一个问题。当由于地下水污染而需要过滤和软化以外的水净化时，可以在饮用水供应（即厨房水槽）附近操作的小型使用点水净化设备将是农村单一家庭使用的理想选择。TDA建议开发一种技术，该技术将被纳入使用点净水器，用于从井水中去除有问题的离子污染物。虽然可在任何家庭中使用，但TDA水净化技术的主要应用将用于农村家庭，那里的主要供水来自水井或其他可能受污染的地下水源。TDA的技术将易于使用，比目前的使用点水净化技术更具成本效益。 公共卫生相关性：大约15%的美国人口从威尔斯、蓄水池和泉水中获得饮用水，这些水源多年来受到越来越多的污染，使得这些地下水源不适合或不健康，不经净化就不能饮用。到目前为止，还没有一种小型的、具有成本效益的使用点水净化技术，可以在由井供应饮用水的单个家庭中从井水中去除多种有毒的离子污染物。TDA建议开发一种具有成本效益，易于使用的技术，该技术将被纳入使用点净水器中，用于从井水中去除有问题的有毒离子污染物。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Approximately 15% of the U.S. population gets their drinking water from wells, cisterns and springs. As a result, over 45 million people do not have access to water that has been processed in a water treatment plant. This is not necessarily bad, as most groundwater in the U.S. is safe to drink; but there are still many cases where groundwater is contaminated and unfit or unhealthy to drink. Not only are dissolved metals a problem, but soluble anions such as perchlorate, nitrate and nitrite are hazardous at higher concentrations. Common contaminants in U.S. groundwater, both from natural and manmade sources, include significant quantities of magnesium and calcium chlorides (normal sources of hardness), heavy metals (e.g. lead), organic contaminants (e.g. pesticides), as well as trace amounts of hazardous materials such as arsenic, perchlorate, nitrates and nitrites. Currently, the majority of common household point-of-entry water purification systems mainly consist of a carbon filter and a water softener, both of which are not designed to remove dangerous ionic contaminants such as arsenate, perchlorate, nitrate, and lead. Carbon filters only remove suspended solids down to 0.5 5m while adsorbing some of the dissolved contaminants, mostly organics. Water softeners are designed to remove the metal cations (e.g., magnesium, calcium) that make water hard, and will not remove dissolved toxic anions. Thus, a point- of-entry well water purification system may be present in a household, but it is quite possible that dangerous ionic contaminants may still be present in the drinking water, even though it has been filtered and softened. To date, there is no small, point-of-use technology that will remove multiple ionic contaminants from well water in households where drinking water is supplied by a well. Technologies, such as ion exchange or reverse osmosis, exist to accomplish this task, but for single household use, these techniques often require large equipment, are too expensive to operate, and regular maintenance is an issue. When water purification beyond filtration and softening is needed due to groundwater contamination, a small, point-of-use water purification device that can be operated near a drinking water supply (i.e. kitchen sink) would be ideal for rural, single household use. TDA proposes to develop technology that will be incorporated into a point-of-use water purifier for removing problematic ionic contaminants from well water. Though operable in any household, the main application for TDA's water purification technology will be for use in rural homes where the main water supply is from a well or another potentially contaminated groundwater source. TDA's technology will be easy to use and more cost effective than current point-of-use water purification technologies. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Approximately 15% of the U.S. population gets their drinking water from wells, cisterns and springs, which have become increasingly contaminated over the years, making these groundwater sources unfit or unhealthy to drink without purification. To date, there is no small, cost effective point-of-use water purification technology that will remove multiple toxic, ionic contaminants from well water in single households where drinking water is supplied by a well. TDA proposes to develop a cost effective, easy to use technology that will be incorporated into a point-of- use water purifier for removing problematic toxic ionic contaminants from well water.