Chlorine plus UV light can detoxify water affected by harmful algae blooms

Phys.Org and other science and engineering outlets highlighted a new study by the University of Cincinnati that examined cost-effective methods to protect drinking water from harmful algae blooms.

Blue-green algae can reproduce in waters laden with nitrogen, phosphorus or other excess nutrients, said Minghao Kong, a doctoral graduate of UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Now at Emory University, Kong was lead author of a paper examining the use of chlorine and ultraviolet light to treat and detoxify water contaminated with cyanotoxins from blue green algae.

The study was published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Kong said researchers have been looking at new ways to mitigate the problem after algae blooms threatened sources of public drinking water, as happened in Toledo in 2014 when the city issued a do-not-drink order to 500,000 residents. Similar incidents close beaches and lakes every year in the United States.

Read the Phys.Org story.

Featured image at top: UC doctoral graduate Minghao Kong talks to the late UC Professor Dionysios Dionysiou in this 2022 file photo. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand