UV Water Treatment Is NOT PURIFICATION
UV treatment of water is often referred to as purfication. It is not purfication. UV utilized in conjunction with other filtration and purifcation methods can be very useful but in itself it does not purify water.
The primary mechanism of microbial inactivation through exposure to UV is a creation of the thymidine dimers in the DNA, which prevents replication. Dormant bacteria are most susceptible to UV sterilization, or bacterial spores appear to be 3 to 10 times as resistant to inactivation and fungal spores have been seen to be 100 to 1000 times more resistant. The primary disadvantage of the use of germicidal UV radiation is its limited penetration - its 253.7 nm wavelength is screened out by most materials, allowing clumps of organisms, and those protected by dust or debris, to escape lethal action. The use of UV radiation is a sterilizing agent is not recommended unless the material to be irradiated is very clean and free of crevices that can protect microorganisms. Many microorganisms are capable of repairing the UV induced at DNA damage using photo reactivation (light repair) and dark repair.
UV sterilization at its best will render microorganisms inert, it does not filter the water, and it merely sterilizes it in laboratory conditions. Sterilization methods such as UV and chemical (iodine and chlorine tablets) . Do not remove particulate radionuclides, chemical, VOC or non-VOC contaminants.
SteriPen, Camelbak and other companies have come out with portable UV (ultraviolet light) pens and bottles. I've been unable to obtain definitive information from either camelback or SteriPen® regarding the exact angstrom and intensity rating of the UV lamps that they use in their products. A high school science teacher friend and survivalist was kind enough to let me test both units with his spectrograph.
The SteriPen® tested that 254 nm (nanometers) and the Camelbak All Clear bottle tested at 249nm. Peer-reviewed research supports the fact that pyrimidine dimerization (major germicidal mechanism) occurs more efficiently closer to 260nm. The pharmaceutical industry has overwhelming peer-reviewed testing results, which indicate a limited value of UV as a sterilizing agent. Inactivation of microorganisms by UV radiation is principally a function of the radiant energy dose which varies widely for different microorganisms.
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