Increasingly, municipalities are turning to ultraviolet (UV) light disinfection to ensure the safety of their drinking water. Trojan Technologies Inc. of London, Ontario, the leading supplier, has been awarded contracts in Canada totalling more than $6 million for these systems over the past year and a half.
"After the disease outbreak in North Battleford and the tragedy in Walkerton, many of the provinces have introduced new drinking water standards, and there is more accountability at the local level to protect public safety," said Allan Bulckaert, president and CEO of Trojan Technologies.
As a result, the Canadian market for UV disinfection equipment is growing quickly. Trojan has previously announced contract awards including Victoria, B.C.; Lethbridge and High Prairie, Alberta; North Battleford, Saskatchewan; North Bay, Waterloo and Sudbury, Ontario; and St. John's, Newfoundland. A total of more than half a million people in these various communities will have access to UV-protected drinking water when the systems are operational.
The project in Victoria, which has a contract value of $3.4 million, will be one of the largest UV drinking water facilities in the world. Once installation is completed by the end of 2003, the UV equipment ultimately will treat more than 127 million gallons of drinking water a day.
"We selected Trojan after a thorough review and evaluation," explained Jack Hull, general manager of the Capital Regional District Water Department in Victoria. "Its systems were independently validated, and the equipment meets the requirements of the Medical Health Officer for parasite inactivation."
At the other end of the country, the Petty Harbour treatment facility, which supplies drinking water to St. John's, Newfoundland, has awarded a contract to Trojan for UV equipment. Installation is to be completed this November.
Trojan's UV systems effectively destroy water-borne pathogens including E.coli, Giardia and Cryptosporidium.
"Increasingly, communities across Canada are recognizing that a multi- barrier system is the best way to ensure safe drinking water and that UV is an important component of such systems because of its reliability, proven effectiveness and cost-efficiency," Bulckaert said.
The multi-barrier approach to protecting municipal drinking water was endorsed in the Report of the Walkerton Inquiry. Municipalities are "switching on" to UV for other reasons as well. For example, UV destroys microorganisms that are resistant to chlorine, and UV does not form disinfection byproducts which can pose health risks.
Source: Trojan Technologies, Inc.
