Oct. 29, 2013 -- The town of Hillsborough, N.H., has chosen to incorporate a new ultraviolet (UV) water disinfection system to treat for viruses rather than only using conventional chlorine -- a historic first for a major municipality.
Hillsborough adopted the technology, Hydro-Optic™, from Atlantium Technologies Ltd., a company specializing in UV water treatment for municipal and other large-scale applications.
The town draws municipal water from Loon Pond, a surface water supply containing high organic load. Dosing the water with enough chlorine to achieve Environmental Protection Ageny (EPA) 4-log virus disinfection standards results in disinfection byproduct violations. As such, the municipality has been under state orders to change its disinfection practices to reduce the threat of carcinogens in the water.
Hillsborough decided on Atlantium’s Medium Pressure UV solution for its small footprint; integrated control software that gives push-of-the-button compliance reports; and medium-pressure lamp technology that is efficient in all water temperatures and destroys virus repair mechanisms. Further, the unit will provide 3-log virus credit, with chlorine providing the remaining 1-log credit -- resulting in a significant reduction of chlorine and no disinfection byproduct violations.
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