Evaluation of different methods supporting swimming pool water disinfection in the aspect of removing organic micropollutants

Abstract

As a result of the intensive development of analytical techniques that allow to reduce the detection limits of tested compounds, the latest scientific research alerts the growing number of organic micro-pollutants identified in the swimming pool water environment. These compounds can both react with the disinfectant, causing the formation of highly toxic disinfection by-products or constitute a serious health risk to swimmers due to their biological activity. The aim of the research presented in this paper is to evaluate the modern methods supporting disinfection used in swimming pool systems, in the aspect of removing compounds from the group of organic microorganisms. The total content of organic matter in systems using UV radiation and ozonation was compared. The identification of organic micropollutants was also carried out. The presence of two phthalates in the tested pools has been documented. It has been shown that their concentration depends on the disinfection method used. Photocatalytic degradation of phthalates in the pool water system allowed to obtain over 35% removal rate, while the efficiency of ozonation in the most favourable case was just over 16%.