New technologies using ultra-violet (UV) light are being tested through the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to help clean up water, destroy airborne viruses and bacteria, including tuberculosis, and purify indoor air by removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

With growing concern in the US about health problems related to water quality, and environmental worry about chlorine disinfectant byproducts, UV treatment for wastewater is emerging as an effective alternative.

Currently, only 5% of US wastewater is treated using an ultraviolet system, but the practice is expected to reach 25% within 10 years. The UV system works by channeling wastewater through a network of fluorescent lamps where exposure to UV light quickly kills the bacteria and viruses that are the main contaminants.

"UV treatment for wastewater will be the most significant technological advance over the next several years, as many new and existing plants shift to this cleaner and generally more cost-effective method," said Keith Carns, manager of EPRI's Community Environmental Center in St. Louis, MO. The Center provides technical development and support for the healthcare, water and wastewater industries.

Another promising application is combining UV with hydrogen peroxide to remove organics, such as industrial chemicals and some pesticides from groundwater. EPRI is also working jointly with the American Water Works Association Research Foundation in Denver to study the use of UV for treating drinking water against a broad range of bacteria and viruses, as well as parasites like giardia and cryptosporidium, responsible for numerous illnesses and deaths in recent years.

Today, unlike 50 years ago, some TB bacteria are now resistant to the antibiotics. Urban areas in the US are hit particularly hard by the disease's resurgence.

EPRI and the recently formed National Tuberculosis Coalition of utilities and health organizations, is launching a controlled study of the use of UV lighting systems to prevent the spread of TB.

"Tuberculosis could become a real health crisis in the next 5 to 10 years," said Myron Jones, EPRI's manager of Advanced Industrial programs. "We're positive that ultraviolet light inactivates bacteria such as TB, influenza, measles, and legionella. Our new projects will show how to effectively equip buildings with these UV fixtures, and examine how effective the fixtures are in real life situations with all of the variables included."

Since TB is commonly transmitted in homeless shelters, the plan is to compare disease patterns in shelters with and without UV lamps. Doctors from St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City and Harvard Medical School will direct the study.

Tests are also being conducted through EPRI's Community Environmental Center in South Africa, since African countries are confronting the highest worldwide death rates from TB.

Ultraviolet (UV) lamps emit germicidal UV light to destroy DNA in bacteria and viruses such as tuberculosis, whooping cough, and measles.	A water treatment facility in Contra Costa County, Calif. uses banks made of several thousand fluorescent lamps that transmit UV light to disinfect water.

Another UV technology for purifying indoor air quality recently won an R&D co-funding award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The air cleaner is effective at removing gaseous pollutants such as carcinogens from cigarette smoke and formaldehyde from furniture and laboratories.

"In the future, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems will combine the particulate filtering capabilities of existing air cleaners to remove pollen and dust with the ability of photocatalytic reactors to destroy volatile organic compounds (VOCs), odors, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone, and microorganisms," said Ephraim Heller, president of LightStream in Alameda, Calif., the company responsible for product development.

Products using the reactor will range in size from portable units to large devices that connect to furnaces or air conditioners. These devices have a blower that moves polluted air through the unit where a bank of UV lamps illuminates a photocatalyst at room temperature, and then converts the compounds into harmless substances such as carbon dioxide and water, thus cleaning the air.

The first product, designated for removing formaldehyde in medical facilities, will be commercially available this year.

EPRI, established in 1973 and headquartered in Palo Alta, California, manages science and technology R&D for the electricity industry. More than 700 utilities are members of the Institute which has an annual budget of some $500 million.