UV Drinking Water Disinfection - Requirements, Testing and Surveillance: Exemplified by the Austrian National Standards M 5873-1 and M 5873-2

The increased acceptance of UV drinking water disinfection is attributed, amongst other things, to the better understanding of the process and the higher quality assurance of the UV disinfection plants. Establishment of quality standards on the requirements, as well as validation testing and certification of commercial UV plants, have provided the basis for the safe application of drinking water disinfection by UV irradiation. Two different techniques of UV irradiation are used for water disinfection: low pressure lamps with quasi monochromatic emission at 253.7 nm and medium pressure lamps with polychromatic emission. Due to the differences in lamp emission and the consequences thereof, it is advisable to deal with these two techniques separately. To describe the requirements on UV disinfection of water a three-step approach has been proven to be useful: (1) the knowledge of the UV resistance of health related microorganisms transmittable by water; (2) an objective careful evaluation of commercial UV plants and (3) the surveillance during practical application by means of defined alarm points and a calibrated UV sensor, which allows checks against official specifications. The latter provides the possibility of an independent, objective inspection, as, for example, demanded by certain health authorities.

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