Municipalities and water utilities face increasingly stringent regulatory requirements under the Turkish Drinking Water Regulation (TSMY) and EU Drinking Water Directive (98/83/EC, updated 2020/2184/EU) regarding drinking water safety in urban distribution networks, distribution line hygiene, and wastewater treatment. Ozone technology offers municipalities advanced treatment solutions to meet these requirements.
Urban Distribution Networks and Distribution Hygiene: The distribution network delivering treated water from the drinking water treatment plant to subscribers faces biofilm development and recontamination risk due to long pipe distances and uneven pressure profiles. Chlorine-dependent residual disinfection increases trihalomethane (THM) formation in long pipelines; the EU Directive sets a limit of 100 μg/L for THMs. Ozone application at treatment plant outlet or intermediate booster stations suppresses bacterial load in the network while breaking down THM precursor organic matter; it reduces chlorine consumption by 40–60% while maintaining residual safety levels. The ozone + biological activated carbon (BAC) filtration combination achieves advanced treatment standards for municipal drinking water.
Drinking Water Treatment Plants: In municipal drinking water treatment plants, ozone plays an effective role in colour, odour, iron-manganese removal; treatment of emerging contaminants such as pharmaceutical residues and microplastics; and inactivation of protozoan parasites such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia where chlorine is ineffective. In Cryptosporidium parvum oocyst inactivation, ozone achieves 99.9% (3-log) inactivation that chlorine cannot reach, at low CT values. Ozone pre-treatment reducing THM formation by 60–80% adds multi-dimensional value to municipal treatment plants.
Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Odour Control: In municipal wastewater treatment plants, ozone at biological treatment outlet delivers 70–90% COD removal and 90%+ colour removal efficacy. H₂S and ammonia-derived odour from pumping stations, biological pond headworks, and sludge processing units generate serious complaints in neighbouring districts. Ozone directly oxidises these compounds, achieving 70–90% reduction in odour complaints; ozone injection at biological pond headworks also suppresses sludge bulking problems.