However, water can also dissolve harmful chemicals that occur naturally in the environment, such as arsenic and mercury. Human-made industrial chemicals — benzene and tetrachloroethylene.

Chlorination involves injection of sodium hypochlorite into the raw water, a retention tank is used to give time for sterilization. Chlorination is the basic first step disinfectant for water purification. Most municipalities use chlorination as the only purification step.

Sedimentary Filtration
After chlorination, water is passed through the sedimentary filter. Sedimentary filtration consists of different layers of medium through which the water passes. This removes any suspended particles in water that may not be visible to the naked eye.

Water Softener
Hardness in water is caused by magnesium and calcium, which occur naturally in certain water areas.

Remove these two unwanted elements and the water becomes soft. Hardness in water causes various scaling, and has an undesirable taste (usually water hardness can be verified by the white scaling around taps, pipes, shower heads etc.).

A water softener removes the hardness by diverting the water through a tank containing a special resin. As water passes through this tank an `ion exchange` takes place.

Activated Carbon Filtration
Activated Carbon Filtration removes chlorine by chemisorption and dissolved organics by adsorption and is often found at two places in a water purification system.

Activated Carbon Filtration also acts as a pre filter for the Reverse Osmosis process. Activated Carbon removes the original chlorination chlorine after the disinfection is complete, hence the water is chlorine free and no chlorine associated taste.

Reverse Osmosis
Reverse Osmosis one of the most important water purification process. It removes nearly 100% of water contaminants. Reverse Osmosis can best be explained after understanding the natural process of osmosis. Osmosis is the movement of water across a semi permeable membrane (the membrane is so microscopically fine that only H2O molecules in its most basic form can pass through) yielding purified water.

Because of its exceptional purifying efficiency, reverse osmosis is a very cost effective technology for a water purification system. Because reverse osmosis removes a high percentage of contaminants, it is often used as a pretreatment process. A system that allows dispensing of the reverse osmosis water gives a source of high quality pre-purified water suitable for many routine laboratory purposes.

Ozonation and Ultrafiltration
The basic process of Ozonation involves the mixing of concentrated oxygen (Ozone) with water for specific periods of time. This process sterilizes and ensures nearly 100% of bacterial viruses have been killed and removed. It also achieves excellent removal of taste and odors. The Ozonated water, is used throughout the water filtration process as well as the source for washing and sterilization of bottles prior to filling.

Ultra Violet
Just seconds before filling, or bottling, the water is passed through U.V units for final sterilization to ensure long shelf life.

These steps ensure that Alpine water has the same pure crisp taste every time you drink it!