UV Disinfection Treatment Challenges Following Water Supply Regulations

UV Disinfection Treatment Now Being Widely Implemented

In this month’s Water & Sewerage Journal, atg UV Technology’s Barry Hopton writes about the new challenges being faced for the future of UV disinfection.

Guarding Against Cryptosporidium Outbreaks

Since the revocation of Regulation 29 in the 2007 Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations, UV irradiation has become the process of choice in municipal water supply for dealing with Cryptosporidium. However, demand is evolving with changing needs.

Barry Hopkins, Municipal Business Manager at ATG UV Technology, comments “Cryptosporidium oocysts are resistant to chlorine and other oxidising biocides, although chlorine dioxide and ozone are effective at high doses, but they bring their own issues. UV is chemical-free with significantly lower TOTEX than physical barriers such as microfiltration and ultrafiltration.” In general, the industry is not well-equipped to deal with cryptosporidium incidents, which is why many organisations are switching to purposed built UV plants to tackle the issues head-on and avoid high profile incidents.