There are many things that are dissolved in water such as chemicals and disease causing microorganisms. The latter include viruses, protozoa and bacteria. You need to make sure that there is a disinfection system in place to kill these microorganisms and ensure the health of your loved ones.

There are many ways of disinfecting water such as the use of UV radiation, chlorination, pasteurization, ozonation and distillation. Before you select a water disinfection method, you need to test your water to get an idea of its composition. This will help you select a disinfection system that is best suited for your home. Chlorination is a common disinfection method and it is inexpensive as well. In this method, a solution of chlorine or hypochlorite is added to water in order to kill disease causing microorganisms. The bad odours of the water can also be removed in this process. There are two methods of chlorination that can be used. In shock chlorination method, a strong chlorine solution will be pumped through the plumbing system and this will kill microorganisms in one go. You can also do this with a well. You can also add chlorine to water continuously using a chemical feed pump. You need to make sure that there is sufficient contact time for the chlorine to rid infect the microorganisms. With a longer contact time, you will be able to carry out this process more effectively. But if excess chlorine is used, the water will have an unpleasant smell and taste.

In ozonation, ozone is generated electrically and it is used to kill bacteria and some pathogens. There is a certain cost when it comes to installation and this doesn’t have residual disinfection properties. This system can be used to remove bacterial, most amoebic cysts, viruses, iron, manganese and some phenols. It is also effective against turbidity of water and issues with taste or smell. You will not be able to remove large cysts and heavy metals with ozonation. There will not be any odour or taste imparted to the water from this process unlike in chlorination and there is a shorter contact time to kill bacteria and viruses.

You can also boil water at a temperature that is sufficient to kill disease causing microorganisms. In pasteurisation, water is disinfected at a lower temperature. There is flash pasteurisation where a high temperature is used for a short time and also low temperature pasteurisation where a longer time is required. Because the temperature is lower than boiling temperature, you will be able to save more energy. UV light can be used to disinfect water and this is especially useful when dealing with certain microorganisms that are resistant to chlorine. This system uses a low pressure mercury arc lamp to emit UV light. Here, residual disinfection will not be carried out like in the case of chlorination. Disinfection is carried out within the unit only. You can use UV light to kill viruses, bacteria and some cysts. You can use this unit as a point-of-entry system or a point-of-use system where you can treat water coming from a single tap.