Water tanks: a potential health hazard

By Gonzalo De Almeida & Maximiliano Vedoya

Water tanks are an important piece on the water supply network, to compensate the variations on the demand of potable water. Water treatment plants have been built to produce the total amount of water that the city needs daily, and the tanks works according to the demand, filling up when the demand is low and emptying when the demand is high. Also, the domestic use of the tanks constitutes a water reservoir when there is no supply. There are different kinds of water tanks, they are classified according to their place and their material. According to their place they are classified in: public, when they are located in some part of the city to supply a wide sector, or private, when they are located inside the houses. According to their material they are classified among in: plastic, It is

the most widely used plastic in water tanks production.

Different

materials

have

different

characteristics; for example, studies have shown that asbestos-cement in contact with water increase the chances of getting cancer of the gastrointestinal tract and larynx. This represents a real health hazard and that is the reason because this material is forbidden in many countries. On the other hand, polyethylene water tanks are healthier

asbestos-cement,

others.

important to look into the issue of the different types of material because these present different characteristics. The most common materials are asbestos-cement and plastic. Asbestos is a general term for fibrous silicate minerals containing iron, magnesium, calcium, or sodium. In fact, what is actually used in the production of water tanks and pipes is the asbestos-cement, which is a combination of cement and asbestos fibers. The

because, in contact with water, they not release chemical contaminants or other

substances. Besides, these are cheaper and easier to manufacture because plastic is more malleable and it allows the production of tanks of many sizes and forms.

polyethylene is a thermoplastic polymer and

As regards Misiones, our province presents a huge demand on the water supply due to summer temperatures that are not extremely hot, but are hard to bear because the high humidity. Nowadays, plastic tanks are the most sold due to their price and convenience to transport and install. Because of that, asbestos-cement tanks are not sold anymore; plastic tanks have replaced them completely. In spite of this, there are a lot of these tanks still in use in the water supply system, due principally because most of the buildings are old and their owners did not replace it. Actually, there are a group of people who are really concerned about this issue and they have made campaigns to inform the population about it. In conclusion, Plastic tanks are wide better than asbestos-cement ones because they offer a lot of benefits. It is important that people who have not changed their old tanks should do it to improve their life quality and even more, the life quality of their neighbors. The water supply system is a network and what each person or family does affects everybody.