Where is water supplied to apartments? Where does the water in your tap come from? Terrestrial origin of water

Let’s imagine an ordinary morning in one of the high-rise buildings in a residential area of ​​our beloved city: toilet, shower, shave, tea, brush your teeth, water for the cat (or in any other order) - and off to work... Everything is automatic and without thinking. As long as cold water flows from the cold water tap, and hot water flows from the hot water tap. And sometimes you open a cold one, and from there comes boiling water!!11#^*¿>.

Let's figure it out.

Cold water supply or cold water supply

The local pumping station supplies water to the main line from the water supply network. A large supply pipe enters the house and ends with a valve, after which there is a water metering unit.

In short, the water metering unit consists of two valves, a strainer and a meter.

Some have an additional check valve

and water meter circuit.

The water meter bypass is an additional meter with valves that can feed the system if the main water meter is being serviced. After the meters, water is supplied to the house mains

where it is distributed over risers that lead water to apartments on floors.

What is the pressure in the system?

9 floors

Houses up to 9 floors high have bottom filling from bottom to top. Those. From the water meter, water flows through a large pipe through risers to the 9th floor. If the water utility is in a good mood, then at the input of the lower zone there should be approximately 4 kg/cm2. Taking into account a pressure drop of one kilogram for every 10 meters of water column, residents of the 9th floor will receive approximately 1 kg of pressure, which is considered normal. In practice, in old houses the inlet pressure is only 3.6 kg. And residents of the 9th floor are content with even less pressure than 1 kg/cm2

12-20 floors

If the house is higher than 9 floors, for example 16 floors, then such a system is divided into 2 zones. Top and bottom. Where the same conditions remain for the lower zone, and for top pressure lift up to approximately 6 kg. In order to raise the water to the very top into the supply main, and with it the water goes in risers to the 10th floor. In buildings above 20 floors, the water supply can be divided into 3 zones. With this supply scheme, water does not circulate in the system, it stands on a backwater. In a high-rise apartment, on average we get pressure from 1 to 4 kg. There are other meanings, but we will not consider them now.

Hot water supply or DHW

In some low-rise buildings hot water connected according to the same scheme, stands on support without circulation, this explains the fact that when opening the tap with hot water, cold, cooled water flows for some time. If we take the same house with 16 floors, then in such a house the hot water system is arranged differently. Hot water, like cold water, is also supplied to the house through a large pipe, and after the meter it goes into the house mains

which lifts the water into the attic where it is distributed along the risers and goes down to the very bottom into the return line. By the way, DHW meters count not only the volume of lost (consumed) water in the house. These counters also count temperature losses (gigocolors)

Temperature is lost when water passes through apartment heated towel rails, which act as risers.

With this scheme, hot water always circulates. As soon as you open the tap, the hot water is already there. The pressure in such a system is approximately 6-7 kg. on the supply and slightly lower on the return to ensure circulation.

Due to circulation, we get pressure in the riser in the apartment of 5-6 kg. and immediately we see the difference in pressure between cold and hot water, from 2 kg. This is precisely the essence of pressing hot water into cold water when plumbing fixtures malfunction. If you notice that you still have higher pressure on hot water than on cold water, then be sure to install a check valve at the cold water inlet, and at the hot water inlet you can include control valves in the system, which will help equalize the pressure to approximately the same figure as the cold one. Pressure regulator installation example

Natalia Ipatova

For St. Petersburg, the Neva is the only source of drinking water. The river originates in Lake Ladoga and is a natural drainage system to the city. Therefore, the condition of the water in Ladoga is extremely important.

98% of the drinking water supplied to the city comes from the Neva. Another 2% is groundwater, which is used to supply water to suburbs, mainly in the southeast.

The Neva comes to the city already polluted. On the way from Ladoga to St. Petersburg, uncleaned waste water other settlements, washouts from agricultural fields and discharges from enterprises

The Neva comes to the city already polluted. On the way from Ladoga to St. Petersburg, it receives untreated wastewater from other populated areas, runoff from agricultural fields and discharges from enterprises. Moreover, the Neva is the final link of the entire unified water system of the North-West (it includes Lake Onega, Lake Ilmen, Lake Ladoga with their drainage basins). Therefore, the water utility always says that it is impossible to restore order only in “its” area. Pollution has no boundaries, and the issue of wastewater treatment in the Leningrad region, Karelia and other regions of the North-West must be urgently resolved. That's what we do.

Is tap water really “drinkable”?

This may surprise some, but drinking water is first and foremost water centralized systems drinking water supply, water at the outlet of water supply stations, from street pumps and reservoirs. And only then – bottled
non-mineral water. In other words, the water that comes from the tap is officially
Suitable for drinking without prior filtration and boiling.

Corrosion products may appear in drinking water. However, in such quantities they are not dangerous to the health of citizens

Natalia Ipatova
Director of the Department of Information and Public Relations
State Unitary Enterprise "Vodokanal of St. Petersburg"

Drinking water in St. Petersburg is guaranteed to be safe and harmless. This means that drinking water from the tap will not cause any harm to your health.

Those rare cases When deviations from standard values ​​are recorded in tap water, they are associated exclusively with the iron content in it. The fact is that Neva water is naturally soft. Therefore, it is suitable for making drinks and using at home. Thus, washing machines and dishwashers in the homes of St. Petersburg residents do not require special water softeners. But it is the natural softness of our water that makes it corrosive. During the period of active development of Leningrad (1970s-1980s – Author’s note) water pipes were made of steel, which, unfortunately, is very susceptible to corrosion processes. Because of this, corrosion products can sometimes appear in drinking water. However, in such quantities they are not dangerous to the health of citizens and only affect taste properties water.

On this issue, the opinions of Vodokanal and environmental organizations differ somewhat:

Healthy people, of course, can drink tap water and nothing will happen to them. But asthmatics or allergy sufferers may already have problems

Yuri Shevchuk
Chairman of the North-West interregional public environmental organization "Green Cross"

It is important to understand that Vodokanal works with standards, and, therefore, focuses on healthy people. They, of course, can drink tap water and nothing will happen to them. But asthmatics or allergy sufferers may already have problems. These are the people who most often complain about contaminated water.

In general, water quality is assessed by three indicators: bacteriological composition, chemical and mineral. There are almost no bacteria in drinking water in St. Petersburg (which is why, by the way, people rarely get hepatitis here). In terms of chemical indicators, the situation is already twofold: Vodokonal works well, the water is completely purified from harmful chemical elements. However, passing through urban, often outdated networks, it becomes polluted again. If we take an old pipe and cut it, we will find a greenish coating inside (these are microorganisms), as well as rust. You can get rid of them only with the help of local filters: either in the apartment or throughout the house. But this is a subjective reason poor quality water.

The water in Lake Ladoga is ultra-fresh, it contains few mineral compounds that are so necessary for humans

And the objective reason and the saddest characteristic of St. Petersburg drinking water is its mineral composition. The water in Lake Ladoga is ultra-fresh, it contains few mineral compounds that are so necessary for humans. Therefore, city residents are often prescribed to take magnesium and calcium - bones become very fragile due to such water.

How does Vodokanal combat pollution?

Natalia Ipatova
Director of the Department of Information and Public Relations
State Unitary Enterprise "Vodokanal of St. Petersburg"

The Neva is a navigable river, and Vodokanal is certainly obliged to take this into account. Therefore, several years ago, all water stations in St. Petersburg installed dosing units for powdered activated carbon. They purify water from petroleum products. The same installations are used during seasonal deteriorations in water quality in the Neva, for example, during floods.

In addition, Vodokanal has a system for early detection of pollution in the river. It includes a biomonitoring system using crayfish. Workplace crayfish - an aquarium into which Neva water is supplied from the water intake, which has not undergone treatment. Special sensors are attached to the cancer's shell, which record the cancer's heart rate and stress index online. The system is based on the fact that, if hazardous substances enter the Neva water, the crayfish reacts instantly: its heart begins to beat much faster, and the corresponding signal is immediately sent to dispatchers.

There is also an early detection system for oil products in the Neva. Before the Neva enters the city, in front of the first water intake of Vodokanal, special equipment is installed on the bridge - the so-called “crabs”. These are devices that measure the thickness of the oil film on the surface of the water and the concentration of oil products in it. All received data is transmitted to the control room - and then they decide whether to turn on the dosing units for activated powdered carbon or not.

Foreign experience

Piterstory selected several cities where the purity of tap water is almost a source of pride, and buying it in plastic bottles is considered bad taste.

Stockholm
Sweden has many natural lakes, the largest of which are Vänern, Vättern and Mälaren. Stockholm is located on the east coast of the latter. Firstly, the water in the lake itself is perfectly clean, a sure indicator of which is the salmon and trout that live there.
Secondly, Sweden has quite tasty drinking water obtained by wastewater treatment.

Helsinki
Water comes to the capital of Finland from Lake Päijänne through a 120-kilometer-long tunnel. On initial stage it passes through a water intake, then enters through a tunnel to water treatment complexes, is ozonized, and undergoes normalization acid-base balance, is filtered again and finally purified by an ultraviolet disinfection system.

Vein
Every day Vienna receives 400,000 cubic meters of water through two pipelines from mountain springs in the areas of Schneeberg, Rax, Schneealpe and Hochschwab. Therefore, you can safely drink tap water, especially since it is served with coffee in any establishment.
A water tower in the style of “industrial historicism” remained in Vienna exclusively as a monument.

Zurich
Not only in Zurich, but also in any other Swiss city, the water is crystal clear for a very obvious reason - it comes from the mountains. In addition, the country has abandoned the use of pesticides in agriculture. Well, the Romandian Consumer Federation claims that tap water in Switzerland is 1000 times more environmentally friendly and 500 times cheaper than bottled water.

Even St. Petersburg residents do not all know from what source the water is supplied to their taps, although most know - from the Neva. And in other cities of Russia, where does water for water pipes come from?

Reservoirs – natural-man-made reservoirs with drinking water

For example, the capital is supplied with water from a reservoir. A reservoir is a dam on a river with an artificially widened bed and a reinforced bottom.

The water accumulated in the reservoir is purified and supplied to water supply systems settlements. Like Moscow, water is withdrawn from reservoirs in Irkutsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and many other cities.

Water intake from rivers flowing through the city

Other populated areas - these include, for example, Yakutsk and our native St. Petersburg - are supplied with water from rivers flowing through the city. But there are regions where natural reservoirs are so far from populated areas that the financial component of developing water supply systems does not allow using them as sources of water intake. Wells are drilled in such places: this is how Tula and Tula region(and more).

Spring water from the tap

Kronstadt is in a special position. The island of Kotlin, surrounded by water, on which Kronstadt stands, cannot provide for itself drinking water from Gulf of Finland, since it will have to be additionally desalinated. Delivering water from the Neva River will be too expensive. The problem was solved in a unique way: in the Lomonosov district Leningrad region There are natural springs - Goslitskie springs. After going through the water treatment process (the water is disinfected at the stations with sodium hypochlorite, the strongest and most effective antiseptic), the water is sent through the conduit to the siphon. Duker is a tunnel stretching along the bottom of the Gulf of Finland from the southern coast to Kotlin Island. So the Kronstadt residents drink spring water.

Problems with water wells

Underground springs are also used by residents of some areas of the Sakhalin region. Water, as in the Lomonosov district of the Leningrad region, is disinfected with chemical reagents and iron-free using the technology of biological reduction of iron concentration, developed by scientists from the Far East.

During operation, water wells gradually age and fail. Thus, in Yuzhno-Kurilsk it was necessary to reconstruct the entire water supply system, since fifty percent of the wells stopped producing water, and the remaining ones could fail at any moment. Major modernization of the underground water pipeline and the drilling of new wells ensured a continuous supply of water to the water supply system of Yuzhno-Kurilsk.

Do you know?..

In Kalmykia, where there are a sufficient number of lakes and rivers, including the Volga, there is a problem with drinking water. On average, one resident of Kalmykia uses eight (!) liters of water per day.

Water shortage is associated with environmental problems region. The authorities promise to build the reservoir as early as 2015, and by 2018 to fully provide the region with drinking water.

"Where does water come from in the plumbing system?" BC "POISK", tell your friends: May 20th, 2017

When we turn on a tap with cold or hot water in the morning, none of us thinks that a hundred years ago, for the vast majority of the population of our planet, this level of comfort was absolutely inaccessible.

Only wealthy owners of comfortable apartments in big cities could afford to use running water and sewerage.

The vast majority of the population, like thousands of years ago, was forced to carry water in buckets from the nearest well, stream, or, at best, from a standpipe.

The twentieth century radically changed the way people live. This was a century of revolutionary changes in many spheres of life, including the public sector.

Water supply and sewerage came to literally every home and from a luxury item became an essential necessity of both urban and rural life. However, not all residents of city apartments understand how the water supply system of their home works, where water comes from into the house and where it goes from the sink, bathtub or toilet.

Water purification

We all know that today drinking water collected from a river or lake without first filtering and boiling it is dangerous to health. But the water that fills our water pipes is usually drawn from the nearest large body of water. Of course, it first goes through a complex purification system at a water intake station.


Water purification is carried out in several stages. First, river water is pumped from the river into the station's storage tank using powerful pumps. There it passes through several filter pipes with grates, cleaning itself from large debris - wood fragments, algae and other contaminants.

Then small particles of sand, silt, and pieces of algae should be caught and deposited. To do this, water is passed through several filters filled first with coarse gravel, then with finer ones. The water is purified from the smallest particles of dirt by passing through a filter made of washed river sand.

The next stage is disinfection, which is performed either by adding a disinfectant to the water or by ultraviolet irradiation. The second method is more modern and completely harmless to human health. However, in some regions, water is still disinfected by chlorination.

City water supply

The water supply system of a modern large city is a complex engineering structure consisting of several main lines and numerous branches suitable for individual houses and apartments.

In the past, a water tower with a reservoir located at a high altitude was used to keep water flowing through pipes. Water was pumped into a reservoir, and from there it flowed through pipes into houses and apartments.

IN modern city this system would not be able to meet the needs of even one microdistrict. And how tall would the tower be required to create enough pressure to supply water to the 25th floor? Therefore, the necessary pressure in the pipes is created by powerful electric pumps located in the most important nodes of the water supply network.


True, in the event of a major power failure, an urban area may be left not only without electricity, but also without water. To avoid this, pumping stations are equipped with independent or backup power sources.

In order to reach your home, water from the river must overcome a filter system, pass through several powerful pumps and through a labyrinth of pipes. And if it is hot water, then through the boiler of the boiler station that provides heat to your area.

Sewage system

Bringing water to every house and apartment is only half the problem. When you turn on the tap to wash your face or wash dishes, the used water flows into the sink hole. But where does it go afterwards?

Wastewater from the kitchen sink, bathtub, shower and toilet drains enters the sewer pipe and from there goes into the central sewer main sewer. Wastewater from many apartments and houses is collected there.

With the help of special sewage pumps designed for pumping dirty, clogged water, wastewater is removed from residential neighborhoods and industrial enterprises.

Unfortunately, under no circumstances should you simply dump wastewater into the river. They contain many harmful and toxic contaminants, which, once in the river, will quickly poison all living things in it, turning it into the same sewer system, only on a larger scale. Therefore, wastewater must be treated.

Each city has a special treatment plant (and in major cities there are usually several of them), where the water is completely freed from dirt and becomes suitable for discharge into the river or for reuse.

Cleaning is carried out, as in the case of tap water, in several stages. But even purified water is not suitable for drinking - it is discharged into the irrigation systems of nearby agricultural enterprises.


In order for us to be able to use the things we have become familiar with since childhood – a water tap and a toilet – public utilities do a great job every day. Don’t forget about this and don’t waste water, because it is our wealth!

The life of all life on Earth depends on the much-needed clear liquid, but no one knows for sure where water comes from and how it appeared on our planet. Some hope is inspired by recent findings confirming the presence of water in one form or another on many other celestial bodies. This gives us a little hope that we are not alone in the Universe.

Why does a person need water?

The daily water requirement of an adult is ~2 liters:

• Liquid is necessary for the normal functioning of metabolic processes.
• Partially thanks to water, blood flow and fluid reserves in cells and intercellular space are replenished.
• It is necessary to regulate electrolyte balance. Its violations can lead to the cessation of nerve impulses.
• The average person cannot live more than a few days without fluid.

All this makes us think that there is not much drinkable water on the planet.

Most of it is sea ​​water , the presence of salt in its composition eliminates the possibility of quenching thirst. And this if you consider that life-giving not only to people, but also to all representatives of flora and fauna.

Where did the water come from?

In my own way chemical composition water is combination of oxygen and hydrogen . There are a huge number of hydrogen atoms in the Universe, because all the stars are its “forges”. With oxygen it’s a little more complicated, but specifically on our planet it was present almost from the first days. All that remains is to wait for the two elements to combine into something unique and completely new, but when there are billions of years ahead, you can wait a little.

Scientists still cannot understand the nature of the heat capacity and heat transfer of water. According to all the laws of chemistry, this substance should have had completely different characteristics.

Maybe it’s a matter of the level of our knowledge, or maybe the situation is much more interesting. But today we can confidently say about water the following:

1. Water is found not only on Earth, but also in many other corners of the Universe.
2. It was formed as a result of the combination of hydrogen and oxygen in proportions of 2 to 1.
3. Water is found both on planets and on asteroids and comets.
4. She is even present in outer space. Most often found in solid form.

Where does water come from on earth?

Regarding the appearance of water on our home planet, there are two opposing theories:

Earthly origin water	Extraterrestrial origin of water
It appeared due to the contact of hydrogen and oxygen released by the magma.	The water was brought in as a result of bombardment by millions of comets and asteroids.
Formed during the first few hundred million years of the planet's formation.	It arose due to the attraction of fine dust containing water scattered in space.
The existence and circulation of water was maintained due to changes in orbit and uneven illumination.	All this happened after the formation of the Earth was completed, which may explain the tectonic features.
Confirmed by the latest research.	On at the moment There is no evidence, only hypotheses.

No one can put a final point in this dispute; our ideas about the world around us are still largely fragmented. But it is the first theory that looks most promising.

Terrestrial origin of water

Today we know for sure that the Earth is not unique in terms of the presence of water. In the same comets and meteorites, H2O must have been formed somehow. This means that a mechanism for the production of water in the Universe exists, which adds a point to the treasury of supporters of the theory of the terrestrial origin of water.

Humanity has safely explored Moon And I didn't find any traces of water there. And this is on the nearest satellite, which, by astronomical standards, is “a stone’s throw away.” Some selective comets and meteorites brought water to Earth, but not to the Moon. It can be stated that the moon has no atmosphere of its own, but practically complete absence The atmosphere on Mars did not prevent the existence of entire “ice caps” at its poles.

What can we say about the number of celestial bodies necessary to “fill” the Earth with all the water that is now on it. Moreover, this in no way explains why most of the water is salty and only a small proportion is fresh ( According to statistics, 3% fresh and 97% salty).

But if H2O was formed on Earth as a result of the chain chemical reactions, a couple of options for answering this question can be considered.

Where does the water in the water supply come from?

But most often we are concerned with more pressing problems than the nature of the origin of water. Much more interesting How does it get into our taps? and then “migrates” to teapots and pots.

According to the developed hygiene standards, there are:

• A reservoir from which water is drawn for the needs of the population.
• A number of water intake structures that collect and filter liquid.
• Extensive water supply system. The same pipes through which liquid flows into our homes.

Water quality is regularly monitored, observing GOST and other standards. That's just The quality of water pipes leaves much to be desired.

Even if the water “at the entrance” to the system was perfectly clean, at the “output” it is not always suitable for consumption. That's why It is better to filter and boil tap water.

Some people are fond of settling, freezing, etc. complex systems filtration. If we were somewhere in Nigeria, such precautions would have a right to exist. But in the post-Soviet space, with water from the pipeline, everything is not so bad.

Where did the water come from?

The existence of water on our planet is ensured by:

• Complex climate change.
• Different amounts of heat that the surface receives.
• The process of evaporation and condensation of liquid.
• The presence of the Sun, which provided an influx of hydrogen.
• The release of oxygen by magma and its fusion with hydrogen.

If we look at the issue from a slightly down-to-earth point of view:

1. Water enters apartments and houses through pipes.
2. In them it is given under pressure from water intake structures.
3. This is where the water is filtered.
4. And it is taken from the nearest body of water - river, lake, reservoir.

But it is important not only to know where the water comes from, but also to maintain the normal water-salt balance of your own body.

Some questions are actually more complicated than they seem at first glance. WITH scientific point Not many people can explain where water comes from. Now you know that this liquid did not just come from a tap.

Video about the origin of water on Earth