Water supply of the Crimea: advanced water disinfection technologies based on the local resources

Summary

Supplying population with high quality drinking water and efficient industrial and domestic wastewater treatment have been global challenges aggravating against the growing scarcity of available fresh water. These problems together with the impact on the human health and economy have also been urgent for many territorial entities of the Russian Federation including the new one – Republic of Crimea. The main problems in water supply of the present-day Crimea have been caused by the deficiency of drinking water, low sanitary reliability of the water treatment systems, lack of sufficient amount of disinfecting units in the agricultural areas, unsatisfactory sanitary and engineering condition of the water distribution networks. All that is worsening the epidemiologic situation at the health resorts of the peninsula, particularly during the high season. The unsatisfactory and even critical condition of the Crimean municipal and communal water supply infrastructure makes it difficult to provide adequate quality water (and wastewater) services to the population. The options of applying water treatment technologies with the use of different concentrations of sodium hypochlorite with an account of the specific features of the South and Steppe Crimea are considered. The availability of sea water and brackish water sources on the peninsula plain, possible use of the «honeycomb» system of disinfectant distribution make introducing the given technology on the large-scale environmentally safe and economically feasible.

Key words

water supply , sodium hypochlorite , electrolysis , water disposal , water disinfection , sea water , ground brackish water