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Bacteria
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Bacteria
The principle of our filter was originated by Sir Henry Doulton in 1854 when he introduced a gravity earthenware filter to strain out bacteria from the river Thames which, at that time, was used to supply drinking water. Thames river water was heavily contaminated with Cholera and Typhoid; these diseases had reached epidemic proportions.
Bacteria are single-celled micro-organisms that feed on digestive wastes and dead tissue. Some bacteria are beneficial but some can cause disease. Disease causing bacteria are called pathogenic bacteria.
Since waterborne pathogenic bacteria (such as typhoid, cholera, and shigella) are greater than one micron in size, they cannot pass through the Doulton ceramic filter. Moreover, during testing, the concentration of bacteria fed to the filter is artificially high in order to simulate a challenging test for the filter. The most aggressive "real life" condition 'would normally be at least 1000 times less severe.
Nearly all drinking water contains ubiquitous bacteria that tend to multiply when retained in conducive situations. While the Doulton ceramic retains pathogenic bacteria, smaller heterotrophic bacteria do pass through. Since these heterotrophic bacteria are harmless, normally there are no problems.
However, if normal use of the filter is interrupted by holidays or vacations, growth of these bacteria may result in a 'flat' or 'stale taste for a period of time when use of the filter resumes. This is especially true for the filter elements that contain activated carbon such as the Super Sterasyl (contains granulated activated carbon). This problem may be eliminated by flushing the filter system for several minutes after any prolonged period of inactivity.
BACTERIAL MITOSIS AND "GROW-THROUGH"
Mitosis is the name for the usual method of bacterial cell division. This division is characterized by resolving the chromatin of the cell nucleus into a threadlike form that condenses into chromosomes, each of which separates longitudinally into two parts, one part of each chromosome being retained in each of the two new daughter cells.
When conditions of growth (cell division) are right (proper environmental conditions , temperature, pressure, etc.) and sufficient nutrients, the "threadlike forms" can penetrate the ceramic structure of other ceramic shells and create bacterial cells on the inside of the element.
Sterasyl grade filter elements incorporate pure silver into the porous ceramic shell to prevent "grow-through" from occurring.
