First Recorded Instances of Water Filtration in Human History
The basic need for clean water has been around as long as humans have. Not many stop and think about that today, however. A simple turn of the tap and you have access to clean, filtered water.
But how was it done before the advent of modern conveniences such as plumbing and water works to bring us water and clean it?
You may be surprised to learn that people had figured out, quite a while ago, that for water to be drinkable it needed to be treated or filtered somehow. 4000 years ago to be exact. It's in that time frame that the first water treatment methods in early Greek and Sanskrit writings were mentioned. That's 2000 BC!
It is important to point out that purification interests were based primarily on obtaining water that "tasted" good or "smelled" better, rather than actual "clean" water. But that's only because at that time, people hadn't figured out the difference between those two concepts.
At that time, it was clear that people understood the idea of boiling water to purify it, as well as using sand and gravel to filter water and straining it to achieve optimum taste and help eliminate odor.
It doesn't have to be said that at that time in history, of course, humans had yet to grasp the notion of micro organisms. So humanity went for a long time suffering the ill effects of contaminated water. But if it weren't for these first steps in experimenting with purifying water, we may not be where we are today.
Water is an integral aspect of our lives. Without it, we perish.
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