International report: water and wastewater disinfection - trends, issues and practices

The prevention of waterborne diseases since the early part of this century can be attributed, in great part, to routine disinfection of water and wastewater. Issues surrounding disinfection differ from country to country. The objective of this paper is to provide an international report on water and wastewater disinfection practices. A background and history of disinfection is presented, followed by a discussion of microorganisms of concern in water and wastewater, disinfection practices, and issues and developments in specific countries. Additionally, selected similarities and differences between water and wastewater disinfection practices will be discussed. The information presented is based, in part, on the national reports on disinfection of water and wastewater that were submitted by 22 countries (Table 1); other information cited was obtained from the literature.