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UV-disinfection makes use of UV-light to disable undesired organisms like fungi, bacteria, nematodes and viruses, as the UV-light alters the DNA of these micro-organisms. This disinfection technology does not make use of chemical substances like chlorine, which makes it more environmentally friendly, while the composition, temperature and pH of the water are not affected. 

In case of water purification by means of UV-disinfection you can choose between high-pressure, medium-pressure and low-pressure mercury lamps. There are multiple points of attention to take account of when selecting the correct UV-lights:

• The spectrum: the higher the pressure of the filling in the mercury lamp, the broader the spectrum of wave lengths that the UV-light is radiated with.
• The capacity: a high-pressure UV-lamp has (much) more capacity than a medium-pressure or low-pressure UV-lamp and is therefore able to purify larger quantities of water per minute.

One condition to be able to decontaminate water by means of UV-light, is that the water lets through the UV-light of the sanitizer. The light transmission of water is expressed in the percentage of UV-C light remaining underneath a 10mm layer of water. When this percentage is too low, the UV-light cannot sufficiently penetrate the water and thus the water not sufficiently decontaminated. So it is important that you filtrate the drain water - for example by use of a sand filter or paper band filter - before the water goes through the UV-sanitizer. Also, you could opt to dilute the drain water, for example by use of rainwater, so that the light transmission is increased. 

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