UV filtration to be used to fight Crypto

UV filtration to be used to fight Crypto


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Ed Yeates reportingSalt Lake County is investing close to a million dollars for new technology that will kill the chlorine-resistant Crypto parasite in public swimming pools. And it's not just crypto! The system destroys giardia, E.coli, and other organisms too.

Thousands of people got sick with cryptosporidium last summer because human fecal material contaminated outdoor and indoor swimming pools across the state. Local health departments got tough, tightening restrictions on swimmers. Some now have even permanently banned babies in diapers.

UV filtration to be used to fight Crypto

Salt Lake County is about to launch yet another attack. The county council has appropriated $977,000 to install new ultraviolet filtration reactors in all its public pools.

Martin Jensen, with Salt Lake County Parks & Recreation, said, "Our goal is, by the opening of our outdoor pools, to have UV systems installed, and by the end of the year to have all of the Salt Lake County pools installed with UV systems."

While crypto has become resistant to normal pool chlorination, concentrated UV inside a reactor zaps the organism's DNA and RNA so it can't reproduce anymore. Studies, including those from Purdue University, show the systems are 99 percent effective in killing not only this parasite but other organisms as well.

Another benefit? Pool operators can use less chlorine. Less chlorine means clearer water, less odor and less corrosion on equipment. Even bathing suits last longer.

Kristin Riker, with Salt Lake County Parks & Recreation, said, "People who have athletic asthma are really going to notice a difference, too, because the chloramines which are usually in the air with a regular chlorine system, those will all go away."

Installing UV in all of the county's 17 pools really doesn't take that much time. We're talking about two to three hours, cutting a pipe at each of the pools and simply installing the system. Once calibrated and working, the reactor will cycle and treat all the water in a pool about every four hours.

The National Sanitation Foundation is currently formulating standards for the new generation UV reactors, certifying only those that meet stringent purification requirements.

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