Efficacy of Treating Waterborne Pathogens with the Antimicrobials Ozone and Trichloromelamine

Abstract

There has been a recent surge in the number of people using reclaimed water systems for personal use. Because of this, it is getting more and more important for easy-to-use and cost effective disinfectants on the market for consumer application. This study looked at the efficacy of three disinfectants, trichloromelamine, ozone and acetic acid, for their ability to reduce the number of waterborne pathogens. Four samples of TCM were tested in a 10mL contaminated water:1mL TCM solution ratio and plated for both total plate counts and to check for generic E.coli. It was found that one of the four samples of TCM (TCM 3) was able to not only give a percent reduction of 92.54%, but it also killed the E.coli that was present in the water. TCM1 had an average percent reduction of 98.77, TCM2's percent reduction was 97.34, and TCM4's: 87.64. This was not the most effective disinfectant, however. Similar tests were done with ozone, ozone that was mixed with brine water, and ozone that was mixed with acetic acid, as well as pure acetic acid. Ozonated brine water, and ozone mixed with acetic acid were both nearly 100% effective at reducing bacterial load in the water samples (99.989 and 100%, respectively). The pure ozone was not nearly as effective, with a percent reduction of 85.7%. These results indicate that TCM and ozone could possibly be effective tools for the consumer to use to disinfect water holding tanks, however, more testing needs to be done in order to find out exactly how effective these products are in the long term, as well as to find the contact time needed for effective kill by TCM.