CleanWater Ozone Systems, Inc. - Municipal Water Treatment: Chemical Contamination

Water sources have reached contamination levels unanticipated by early water treatment facility planners.

The Center for Disease Control estimates that each year about 900,000 people fall sick from consuming contaminated water and up to 900 die.

Municipal Water Treatment

Addressing a New Problem:
Chemical Contamination

Pesticides, TOCs and other contaminants from our industrial society are creating water sources in which current treatment methods are becoming increasingly ineffective. In an article titled, "25 Years of the Safe Drinking Water Act," the EPA reported that the top three emerging challenges to be met were 1) a growing population and development, 2) aging infrastructure and lastly 3) the discovery of new sources of contamination. Many of these contaminating chemicals which have leached into our rivers, lakes and aquifers are testing the limits of municipal water treatment facilities applying conventional methods. Regardless of who is to blame, the public places ultimate responsibility on the city to ensure the water at the tap is safe. As of 2003, the EPA has set standards for 90 contaminants. Chlorine, which gained popularity within the U. S. as a disinfectant in the early 1900's, is now used (in several forms) throughout the country in an effort to create clean drinking water. However, the original advocates of chlorine never anticipated the variety and amount of new contaminants in our present water supply.

In the year 2000, the EPA cited 4,837 water treatment facilities with violations due to either breaching the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) or providing insufficient treatment techniques. This number accounted for 23% of all violations reported and affected over 27 million people.

Since its inception in the early 1900's, chlorine revolutionized water purification methods and brought sweeping change and development to the science of water treatment. It has taken 100 years of technology and ingenuity to develop the next step in efficiently creating safe, clean water. With the implementation of ozone, water treatment systems have the capability of overcoming the new challenges associated with our nation's water supplies. Discover this new step in technology. Discover the power of O₃.

Read about the Ingalls water treatment facility.