Impacto económico y calidad microbiológica de aguas tratadas con ozono.

The objectives of the paper consisted of the evaluation of the economic impact and the water microbiological quality, by applying ozone disinfection. This technology has been installed in water bottled industry, as well as in facilities for the breeding of pathogenic germ-free animals located in the National Center of Laboratory Animal Production and in the Genetic and Biotechnology Engineering Center facilities, where the laboratory animals remain during different drugs evaluation. A procedure to estimate the applied ozone dose and the dissolved ozone concentration at the contact column exit was used. The use of a single contact stage in the practice was valid. The ozone applied in the water treatment as in the bottling of water, as in production units of laboratory animals has a high economic and technical feasibility as compared to other treatments. Ozone guarantees efficient water disinfection. An appropriate treatment for the elimination of microbiological contamination for Pseudomonas aeruginosa in water bottled industry was not found. However, the water ozonization during the bottling process and sanitizing the plant lines, with a high dissolved ozone concentration, provides an adequate disinfection. The conventional thermal water treatment used for the consumption of laboratory animals is difficult and very expensive, being the annual production cost of the ozone treatment around seven times cheaper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]