Water is the foundation for all life as we know it, but it takes a certain quality of water in order for humans to be healthy and safe. Most of the earth is covered with water but only 1-2 percent of it is safe to drink as it is. Other interesting facts regarding water quality include:
- Every day as many as 10,000 children die because of complications relating to unsafe and dirty drinking water.
- As much as 60% of the human body is water.
- Each American uses around 50 gallons, or 190 liters, of water each day.
- At least 400 million people live where there is little access to clean safe drinking water.
So how dirty is your water? If you want to see how clean your water is you need to us a TDS Meter, which indicates the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) of a solution. This means you can see how much ‘extra stuff’ your water contains. Because these solids, such as salts and minerals, boost the conductivity of the water, a TDS meter is able to measure the conductivity of the water. The more TDS there is the water the less pure it is considered to be.
There is no real good or bad level for water because it depends on what the water is being used for. Of course if you are going to be drinking or using the water for cooking you will want the lowest TDS levels possible. You also do not want a lot of stuff in your water if you are growing food with it or bathing in it because it can still make you sick.
The U.S. EPA and the World Health Organization (WHO) has a limit to how much TDS is allowed in drinking water. In most cases the safe level for drinking water is between 500 and 1000 ppm, but they do vary.
