Legionella is a major public health issue as they are responsible for Legionnaires' disease, which can be fatal. Cooling towers are often incriminated because of their potential emission of contaminated aerosols. A disinfection process for treating water is then necessary. However, current techniques often need high concentrations of chemical products which lead to ecotoxic releases into the environment. UV-H2O2 is an advanced oxidation process with a limited environmental impact (hydrogen peroxide decomposition into oxygen and water, low production of toxic compounds). It was shown that this method is an effective technique of disinfection both in a laboratory pilot on water charged with microorganisms and organic matter, and in the water treatment of a cooling tower (service sector). UV irradiation was applied continuously (10 – 22 J.cm-2 on the pilot; 2 – 7 J.cm-2 on the cooling tower) with a constant residual of hydrogen peroxide (10 to 50 mg.L-1 on the pilot; 3 to 10 mg.L-1 on the cooling tower). On the laboratory pilot, UV-H2O2 showed a higher efficacy than UV or hydrogen peroxide treatments applied alone. A more important reduction of microbiological parameters in water and biofilms (ATP, heterotrophic plate and total bacteria counts) and a deep change in organic matter (mineralization) were observed. The advantages of each process (both well-known UV disinfection and bactericidal action of H2O2) were selected by limiting their disadvantages (no residual with UV, need for high concentrations of H2O2) through the generation of hydroxyl radicals, acting on microorganisms and organic matter. The study on a cooling tower confirmed these results and showed good disinfection performances compared with those obtained for chlorine dioxide. However, the optimization phases of the treatment highlighted a bacterial adaptation to hydrogen peroxide. A monitoring of this oxidant is required in order to maintain a residual, and therefore to avoid a drift of the system. Besides, UV-H2O2 showed little effect on scale and corrosion inhibitors. A rapid economic assessment allowed to placing UV-H2O2 in the same order of magnitude as usual treatments.
