Ozone has been used for over 100 years both as a very efficient method for drinking water treatment and to improve drinking water quality. At present, ozonized drinking water is gaining acceptance worldwide, mainly as an alternative to traditional chemical substances.

 

In order to obtain drinking water ozone acts as the fastest and most effective natural oxidizing agent that has ever existed. It is a powerful bactericide, viricidal and fungicide. Ozone improves organoleptic properties of drinking water, such as odour, colour and taste. It kills microorganisms breaking by oxidation the capsid, or exterior protein shell (lipids). Chemical agents act by enzymatic poisoning of the vital centers, so ozone turns out to be from thousand times faster than chemical agents.

 

Some of those characteristics allow ozone to obtain surprising results in drinking water treatment because of his powerful oxidation potential with conventional pollutants such as iron, manganese, proteins, amino acids or humic acids, components which degrade taste, colour and odour of water. Ozone also oxidizes organic micropollutants such as detergents, phenol, hydrocarbon, pesticides, herbicides and mineral fertilizers.

 

The oxidizing effect of ozone acts by three different ways:

Direct oxidation by loss of an oxygen atom.

Direct oxidation by addition of the ozone molecule in the oxidized particle.

Oxidation by means of catalytic effect that favours the oxidizing function of oxygen in ozonized air.