Written by Les Evans

A conversation overheard at the last TrueLeaf sales meeting:

Jim: So is there anything else we need to discuss?

Les: Why has it taken so long for our industry to use a water treatment technology that has been used elsewhere successfully for years?

Jim: Good question.  Write an article about it, due Thursday.

Les: Ugh…Gee, thanks.  Why didn’t I keep my mouth shut?

Jim: You?  Keep your mouth shut?  Good one.  Now write.

Les:  Ouch, that hurts.  Ok.  So what’s my “angle”?  You and Al always have a good angle in your articles.  You guys have a gift.  I’m an engineer, not a writer; I need some guidance here…

Morris: Well, what else is ozone used for?  Isn’t it used all over the place?  Why don’t you just tell people about those every day uses?

Les:  Great idea, I am glad I thought of it.

…. And so here it is, an engineer’s article or “blog” as some like to call it…

I was only aware of a couple of the below uses of ozone.  Ozone probably affects more people’s lives every day than we realize.  Maybe something as simple as this list will begin to help demystify it and shed light on why we haven’t seen much of it in our industry.  Maybe it’ll help me answer why it should be used more in our industry. (List brought to you by the use of bullet points, a non-writer’s favorite literary tool.):

• Bottled water - ALL water bottled in the USA must be ozonated!  100% of it.  It disinfects the water, the small amount of air in the bottle and the bottle itself.  In case you were curious, there was over 9.4 billion gallons of bottled water consumed in the U.S. in ’08; 24 gallons per person.
• Ozone is the most powerful disinfectant used by public water systems today.  Ozone is taking over for UV and is much more effective than chlorine in destroying viruses and bacteria, making it the most most popular method for new and retrofitted waste water treatment plants.
  • Dallas and Los Angeles are the largest and second largest waste water treatment plants in the United States.  They both use ozone as the primary treatment, and have done so for years.
  • Fact: More than 5 Billion gallons per day of drinking water is treated with ozone in communities within a 400 mile radius of Los Angeles, California.
• Ozonation is the most common way of treating water at aquariums, sea parks, and zoos.  It safely kills disease-causing microbes and fungus without the use of harsh and increasingly regulated chemicals.
• Ozone is especially well suited for disinfection, preservation, and for sterilizing packaging and equipment in the food industry.  It destroys microorganisms without adding chemical byproducts to the treated food, food processing water, or the atmosphere in which foods are stored.
• Ozone systems provide safe, decentralized water treatment that can be used on-site for surface sanitation of products, equipment, and even the gear worn by personnel in various industries.
• Ozone is used in the dairy, poultry and swine industries to produce safe, clean, chemical free drinking water, improving the health of the animals and greatly reducing the costs of supplements and medicines.  The poultry industry also uses it for meat sanitation and packing.
• Ozone is used to reduce microbiological growth and other factors that affect the performance and lifespan of cooling towers and other heat exchange equipment.
• In hospitals ozone is used:
  • To disinfect surgical instruments,
  • To destroy the ever increasing resistant strains that are produced by constant chemical use.
  • In some capacity for enemas!  (I didn’t ask any more questions),
  • For HIV treatments, cancer, fungal issues, non-healing wounds, the list goes on…

So, if it’s so darn great, why isn’t ozone widely (or even hardly) used in our industry?  Like so many of our customers and colleagues in the industry, I’ve known about ozone for years and I’ve wondered why it hasn’t been embraced more to treat the myriad of water issues that we see.  After consulting with our own expert, Charlie Hayes, as well as outside industries that have been utilizing the technology for many years, I think it can be summed up by the below (oh goody, more bullet points):

• The equipment price itself. Yes, I’ve listed it as first, because it’s the most obvious and has most likely been one of the biggest reasons we haven’t seen it around as much as in the larger industries.  As it’s used more and more, it has logically gotten more and more affordable. It has seemed like a pricey capital expense, but if one looks at the actual annualized or monthly budget expenses for the alternatives, it compares favorably in direct costs per month.  Then once it’s “paid for it self” it’s only input is electricity.
• Efficiency and durability of the equipment. With its do or die live plant applications, our industry demands fool proof water treatment equipment and until the last decade or so, it hasn’t really been available.  It is now ready, and has been tested and proven, and on a scale (see above note regarding 5 BILLION gallons/day) that should tell our industry it’s worth looking into.
• Sounds too good to be true.  The “snake oil” factor. A few bad apples… Companies in the past tarnished ozone’s credibility because they sold thousands of poorly manufactured units and didn’t support them.  These cheesy units were sold as silver bullets for any and all water issues and simply didn’t work.  Things have changed considerably and there wasn’t a true systems approach to water treatment until the technology improved and more professional companies got involved.
• Conspiracy theory. I don’t want to make too many enemies here, but the chemical companies certainly have enjoyed the presence of higher capital cost treatment solutions.  For most growers, it’s certainly much easier to keep purchasing the relatively low cost chemicals rather than spend the money on a piece of equipment that would eliminate that cost.  Or is it…?

The bottom line is that treating water with ozone is not something new.  It is a mature technology.  It has been used in industries where, like ours, it is critically important.  It has been used for many years in these industries and continues to take over for the older, less effective and less reliable technologies.  It is safe for the environment. The EPA does not require any record-keeping or reporting of ozone use.  It is green.  The USDA and FDA all accept it and it’s certified organic at ANY level, even on food.  There are NO by-products.  There is no other disinfectant or treatment product within the USDA and FDA that is so accepted as is ozone.

I invite you to learn more about ozone by calling us or researching it yourself.  (And let me know if you’d like a good source for hospital quality, ozonated, extra virgin olive oil; it works like magic on our family’s boo boos).