Ozone disinfection of drinking water — technology transfer and policy issues

In today’s world of stricter drinking water disinfection standards there is a search for disinfection solutions that abide by the new standards while keeping the disinfection operation cost-efficient and safe. Ozone disinfection has the potential not only to meet but also to exceed the limits. Along with disinfection, the use of ozone for drinking water treatment can also have many other benefits such as taste and color removal, iron and manganese removal, and insecticide removal. p]Ozone disinfection has been used widely in Europe for well over a century, but many of its great benefits are just now being realized in the United States. Ozone disinfection has been the focus of many recent studies in the drinking water field. p]The purpose of the research for this paper was to analyze ozone disinfection from technology transfer and related policy perspectives. This paper reports the aspects used to analyze the technology as well as the results. A modified version of the Strategic Technology Evaluation Program was used to evaluate ozone disinfection’s transfer viability. p]This study has demonstrated that ozone disinfection, to be fully accepted into the drinking water industry, must first be accepted by the American Water Works Association, a nationally recognized professional and trade organization. Once this acceptance is gained, individual municipalities will more readily accept the technology. p]Another driving force that will likely bring about the adoption of ozone disinfection of drinking water would be stricter drinking water disinfection standards that can be best met by this technology.