Glossary of terms
Alkalinity
Alkalinity is a chemical measurement of a water's ability to neutralise acids. Alkalinity is also a measure of a water's buffering capacity or its ability to resist changes in pH upon the addition of acids or bases.
Aluminium
It is a silvery-white, soft, non-magnetic and ductile metal in the boron group. By mass, aluminium makes up about 8% of the Earth's crust, where it is the third most abundant element and also the most abundant metal.
Ammonia
Ammonia, a colourless gas with a distinct odour, is a building-block chemical and a key component in the manufacture of many products people use every day.
Antimony
Antimony definition, a brittle, lustrous, white metallic element occurring in nature free or combined, used chiefly in alloys and in compounds in medicine.
Arsenic
Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid.
Boron
Boron is a mineral that is found in food and the environment. People take boron supplements as medicine. Boron is used for building strong bones, treating osteoarthritis, as an aid for building muscles and increasing testosterone levels, and for improving thinking skills and muscle coordination.
Cadmium
Cadmium is in its elemental form a soft, silver-white metal. It is not usually present in the environment as a pure metal, but most often as complex oxides, sulphides, and carbonates in zinc, lead, and copper ores.
Calcium
Calcium is a mineral found mainly in the hard part of bones, where it is stored. Calcium is added to bone by cells called osteoblasts and removed from bone by cells called osteoclasts. Calcium is essential for healthy bones and is also important for muscle contraction, heart action, and normal blood clotting.
Calcium Hardness
Calcium hardness is a measure of the amount of calcium ions present in the water. The minerals mostly get into the water by washing over or through limestone and chalk rocks. Total hardness of water consists of magnesium hardness and calcium hardness.
Chloride
Chloride is formed when the element chlorine gains an electron or when a compound such as hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water or other polar solvents. Chloride salts such as sodium chloride are often very soluble in water.
Chlorine
Chlorine is a naturally-occurring chemical element, one of the basic building blocks of matter. ... Chlorine chemistry provides clean drinking water to millions around the globe. Clean drinking water made possible with chlorine disinfectants is a monumental triumph over the scourges of waterborne disease.
Chromium
Chromium is critical in the manufacturing of stainless steel. Most stainless steel contains about 18 percent chromium; it is what hardens and toughens steel and increases its resistance to corrosion, especially at high temperatures. Because stainless steel does not rust and is easily sterilised, it is a part of many items we use in our daily lives.
Conductivity
Conductivity is the measure of the ease at which an electric charge or heat can pass through a material. A conductor is a material which gives very little resistance to the flow of an electric current or thermal energy.
Copper
Copper is an essential trace mineral necessary for survival. It is found in all body tissues and plays a role in making red blood cells and maintaining nerve cells and the immune system.
E.Coli
Escherichia coli is a type of bacteria that normally lives in your intestines. It's also found in the gut of some animals. Most types of E. coli are harmless and even help keep your digestive tract healthy. But some strains can cause diarrhoea if you eat contaminated food or drink fouled water.
Faecal Enterococci
Enterococci are indicators of the presence of faecal material in water and, therefore, of the possible presence of disease-causing bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. These pathogens can sicken swimmers and others who use rivers and streams for recreation or eat raw shellfish or fish.
Fluoride
Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral. It’s also added to the local water supplies in America. While the amount added to drinking water is considered to be relatively safe, exposure to high levels of fluoride may be linked to several health issues.
Hydrogen Sulfide
Hydrogen Sulfide is a highly flammable, explosive gas, and can cause possible life-threatening situations if not properly handled. In addition, Hydrogen Sulfide gas burns and produces other toxic vapours and gases, such as sulfur dioxide.
Lead
It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, lead is silvery with a hint of blue; it tarnishes to a dull grey colour when exposed to air.
Magnesium
Magnesium is a mineral that's crucial to the body's function. Magnesium helps keep blood pressure normal, bones strong, and the heart rhythm steady.
Manganese
Manganese is a chemical element. It is not found as a free element in nature; it is often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy uses, particularly in stainless steels.
Molybdenum
Molybdenum is an essential mineral in the body, just like iron and magnesium. It is present in soil and transferred into your diet when you consume plants, as well as animals that feed on those plants.
Nickel
It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile.
Nitrates
Nitrates are inorganic compounds made up of nitrogen and oxygen. Nitrates are common components of fertilisers and explosives. Almost all nitrate are soluble in water.
Nitrites
Nitrites are a salt or ester anion of nitrous acid, which can be naturally or artificially occurring in groundwater. Nitrites come from fertilisers through run-off water, sewage, and mineral deposits. Unfortunately it can also stimulate the grown of bacteria when introduced in high levels into a body of water.
PPM (Parts Per Million)
Parts per million (ppm) is the number of units of mass of a contaminant per million units of total mass.
pH
pH is a scale used to specify the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Lower pH values correspond to solutions which are more acidic in nature, while higher values correspond to solutions which are more basic or alkaline. At room temperature, pure water is neutral and therefore has a pH of 7.
Potassium
Potassium is a silvery-white metallic element that oxidises rapidly in the air and whose compounds are used as fertiliser and in special hard glasses.
Selenium
Selenium is a mineral found in the soil. Selenium naturally appears in water and some foods. While people only need a very small amount, selenium plays a key role in the metabolism.
Silver
Silver is a soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal.
Sodium Sodium is a mineral that occurs naturally in foods or is added during manufacturing – or both.
Sulfate
Sulfate is a chemical compound that is composed of one sulfur atom with four oxygen atoms surrounding it. Sulfate is highly abundant in our environment, found naturally as minerals in the earth.
Tin
Tin is a silvery metal that characteristically has a faint yellow hue. Tin, like indium, is soft enough to be cut without much force.
TDS (Total Dissolved Solids)
Total dissolved solids is a measure of the dissolved combined content of all inorganic and organic substances present in a liquid in molecular, ionised, or micro-granular suspended form. TDS is sometimes referred to as parts per million. Water quality levels can be tested using a digital TDS PPM meter.
Total Coliforms
Total coliforms are a group of related bacteria that are (with few exceptions) not harmful to humans. A variety of bacteria, parasites, and viruses, known as pathogens, can potentially cause health problems if humans ingest them. EPA considers total coliforms a useful indicator of other pathogens for drinking water.
Total Hardness
Hard water is water that has high mineral content. Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone, chalk or gypsum which are largely made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates, bicarbonates and sulfates.
Total Suspended Solids
Total suspended solids are the dry weight of suspended particles, that are not dissolved, in a sample of water that can be trapped by a filter that is analysed using a filtration apparatus.
THM (Trihalomethanes)
Trihalomethanes (THM) are a group of four chemicals that are formed along with other disinfection by products when chlorine or other disinfectants used to control microbial contaminants in drinking water react with naturally occurring organic and inorganic matter in water.
Turbidity
Turbidity is a measure of the degree to which the water loses its transparency due to the presence of suspended particulates. The more total suspended solids in the water, the murkier it seems and the higher the turbidity. Turbidity is considered as a good measure of the quality of water.
Zinc
Zinc is a mineral that is essential to the body and is a constituent of many enzymes that permit chemical reactions to proceed at normal rates.
