Crystal IS UVC LEDs for new EU drinking water rules
UVC LED-powered water disinfection products can provide 99.998 percent reduction of Legionella pneumophila
An October 2018 vote on proposed water guidelines in Europe ruled in favour of more stringent quality standards for consumer drinking water, expanding monitoring and limits on certain pollutants, including legionella. Now Crystal IS, a developer of high-performance UVC LEDs, has announced independent testing results of the Klaran AKR, an on-demand UVC LED-based water disinfection reactor designed by Asahi Kasei Corporation, the parent company of Crystal IS, intended for consumer and commercial water purification.
Performed by the University of Colorado Boulder, testing showed the AKR reactor provided 99.998 percent reduction of legionella pneumophila at a flow rate of two litres per minute.
The recently passed Revision of the Drinking Water Directive in the European Union notes that legionella causes the highest health burden of all waterborne pathogens in the Union and proposes to apply random monitoring at the tap to man-made water systems and subsequent remediation actions to improve water safety. The performance of the Klaran AKR would provide an immediate risk management solution for meeting the <1000 CFUs/Liter assessment value.
“UVC LED technology enables water product manufacturers to differentiate their solution with point-of-dispense disinfection, supporting new and existing customers in mitigating the risk of legionella,” said James Peterson, product manager, Crystal IS. “The Klaran Reactor series uses our UVC LEDs to provide maintenance-free disinfection that lasts longer and is more affordable than UV lamps or filtration cartridges. Along with its compact size, this makes the Klaran AKR an ideal method of worry-free legionella management.”
Enforcing regular monitoring at the point of dispense would not only improve water hygiene from large and small utility systems, but also promote new risk identification mechanisms inside of building distribution systems and water holding appliances. In addition to potentially improving public health, raising consumer confidence and reducing cases of Legionnaires’ Disease, this regulation would place increased accountability for water hygiene on building managers and water product designers in the European Union.
While individual Member States, system operators, and building managers will need to interpret their risk reduction plans based upon the final legislation, water purification and appliance manufacturers are acting on these future needs now to provide new solutions for this existing health concern and upcoming regulatory situation.
Lasting for years after installation rather than months, Klaran reactors provide effective water hygiene without maintenance schedules or burdens to owners and service providers. As both facilities and product designers face the task of identifying low impact strategies to improve legionella management, Klaran UVC LED-based reactors will offer long term and unobtrusive installation into water systems, while providing reliable performance claims backed by third party validation.
Klaran AKR reactors are available for design integration sampling now.
