The Need for Cleaner Water
It is proven scientifically that 85% of child sickness and 65% of adult diseases are produced by water-borne viruses, bacteria and intestinal protozoa such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia. Inappropriate water treatment can lead to heath problems – hepatitis B, tuberculosis, meningitis, typhoid fever, tricomoniasis, and cholera, glaucoma, gastrointestinal pain, salmonella, poliovirus, and diarrhea. In North America, E.coli O157:H7, an extremely dangerous strain of E.coli bacteria, infects more than 80,000 people annually. Fortunately, E.coli O157:H7 is easily inactivated by UV light.
Disinfecting your recycle water with ultraviolet light (UV) makes good sense. It’s environmentally safe, it’s well proven, and it’s the way of the future for water disinfection requirements around the globe.
The Process
Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection uses a UV light source, which is enclosed in a transparent protective sleeve. It is mounted so that water can pass through a flow chamber, and UV rays are admitted and absorbed into the stream. When ultraviolet energy is absorbed by the reproductive mechanisms of bacteria and viruses, the genetic material (DNA/RNA) is rearranged and they can no longer reproduce. They are therefore considered dead and the risk of disease has been eliminated.
UV-rays are energy-rich electromagnetic rays that are found in the natural spectrum of the sunlight. They are in the range of the invisible short wave light having a wavelength ranging from 100 to 400 nm (1 nanometer = 10-9m).
UV, like distillation, disinfects water without adding chemicals, and therefore possesses some of the same benefits as distillation. It does not create new chemical complexes, nor does it change the taste or odor of the water, and does not remove any beneficial minerals in the water.
Ultraviolet devices are most effective when the water has already been partially treated, and only the cleanest water passes through the UV flow chamber. TOPAS WWTP uses both a biological process and a sand filter to clean the water prior to passing it through the UV light, to provide complete water quality solutions. Ultraviolet light is a natural, cost effective, environmentally friendly disinfection process for use in homes where healthy water is a concern.
