Copper disinfection ban causes storm

Alan Lester, managing director of specialist supplier of ‘environmentally friendly’ water treatment systems, Advanced Hydro, says the ban has caused ‘a storm of giant proportion,’ with advocates of copper ion-based treatment systems arguing that this disinfection method dates back 3,000 years to Egyptian times, making it an ‘undoubtedly proven’ technology. Here he explains why the ban came into force, considers why the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is seeking a derogation, looks at the ban’s likely impact, and gives a personal viewpoint on the ‘pros and cons’ of some of the alternative treatment technologies, including a titanium dioxide-based system marketed by Advanced Hydro itself in the UK.

Such has been the furore as a result of a ban which, a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) bulletin published on 29 November last year (HEJ – January 2013) explained, had been imposed ‘because no manufacturer supported the use of elemental copper for use as a biocide in these systems during a review period that ended in September 2011’, that questions have been raised in the House of Commons, and passionate debate is under way in many areas of commerce and industry. While proponents of elemental copper’s use point out that the material has been used for disinfection since Egyptian times, those backing the ban argue that such systems introduce additional metals to eco systems which, although at very low levels, are ‘persistent and bio-accumulative’. But why, in more detail, has the ban been imposed, and what effect will this have?

How does copper/silver ion disinfection work?