“Boiling the water or even filtering it won’t help because that doesn’t remove the toxins, which target your liver,” said Minghao Kong, Ph.D., from the University of Cincinnati, in a recent Environmental Science & Technology magazine article. The disgusting morsel is designed to raise again the urgent necessity for next-generation-technology water purification technology as lethal algal blooms contaminate drinking water supplies globally.
The cyanobacterial bloom, otherwise induced by climatic change and nutrient pollution, is extremely destructive to human societies. They carry cyanotoxins, which in their turn remain for extended durations in water supply systems and therefore render processes such as boiling and filtration worthless. In a bid to improve this, researchers at the University of Cincinnati have devised a new efficient process that combines ultraviolet (UV) light and chlorine in degrading the toxins.
This is an appropriate cyanotoxin degradation process, relative to chlorine being a monomer. The UV radiation degrades the cyanotoxin molecules into very minute fragments that are easily chlorinated by oxidation. This ensures maximum removal of the toxic substance, hence accounting for chemical quantity reduction as well as energy consumed, thereby building an efficient mode of mass-scale management of water treatment plants.
This achievement cannot be overstated. With cyanotoxin concentrations increasing to crisis levels in such bodies of water as California’s Clear Lake and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, availability of an established treatment technology has never been so vital. A poisonous bloom that in 2014 removed clean drinking water from virtually half a million Toledo, Ohio, homes can very well launch epidemic public health emergencies.
The UV/chlorine also treated byproduct problems of disinfection, which had previously been demonstrated to be formed when chlorine is added to waterborne organic contaminants. In the study team, under Kong, “Our tests confirmed that resulting byproduct concentrations remained within safe limits.” This is done to no further health risk is transferred to the treatment.
On top of that, the adaptability of the solution to current water infrastructures will render the solution an end-to-end solution for urban cities with over-loaded infrastructures caused by toxic algal blooms. Through the bundling of the UV and chlorine systems, the water utilities will hence ensure that they enhance their capacity to supply safe drinking water at no extra cost.
Even though the UV/chlorine process is very promising, it needs to be tested in the field so that its application at full treatment scale is determined. Pilot-scale testing currently available in existing water treatment facilities will determine the effectiveness of the process and further refine the guide for implementation.
The need for effective countermeasures in cyanotoxin management intensifies with increasing occurrences of toxic blooms of cyanobacteria after climate change and increasing levels of nutrients in water bodies. Increasing frequencies and toxicity of the blooms in the coming two decades are projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Aside from the UV/chlorine treatment, other AOPs are researched based on their potential to oxidize cyanotoxins. Sulfate radical-based AOPs, for example, exhibit excellent selectivity and efficiency in the oxidation of organic contaminants with a frontier potential to revolutionize water treatment. Reactive species like sulfate radicals are engaged in activities such as detection and toxin destruction with treatment design and control versatility.
And as the scientists develop and deploy these technologies, their goal is one: to offer low-cost, effective protection for the defense of drinking water from the hazard of toxic algal blooms. With the power of UV light and chlorine and other new treatment technology, scientists are advancing toward the day when clean, safe drinking water will be available to all.
To environmentalists, water treatment specialists, and health experts, all these advancements are a stride in gigantic steps against water toxins. With each breakthrough and innovation, coordination of effort in applied science and scientific research will be the key to the spread of water toxin challenge and the protection of our water supply.
