Water Disinfection Methods Research Articles

Efficacy of acoustic waves in preventing Streptococcus mutans adhesion on dental unit water line.

The quality and health safety of water used for refrigeration and flushing of the handpieces, water-syringes and other components of dental units is of considerable importance. Water crosses these devices by a system of intersected small plastic tubes (about 2 mm of diameter), named dental unit water lines (DUWLs). DUWLs may be heavily colonized by many bacterial species in a planktonic phase, adherent or in biofilm lifestyle, resulting in a potential risk of infection, not only for all professionals who routinely use these devices, but also for occasional-patients, especially immunocompromised patients. Contamination of DUWLs can be prevented or reduced with the use of disinfectants, but the eradication of microorganisms, especially which those are adherent or living in biofilm lifestyle on the inner surfaces of DUWLs is challenging and often, the normal methods of water disinfection are not effective. Moreover, disinfectants routinely used to disinfect DUWLs may alter the bond strength of the dentine bonding agent used for restorative practice in dentistry. To identify an innovative and alternative strategy, able to prevent bacterial adhesion to DUWL surfaces through a physical approach, which is more effective in overcoming the problem of DUWL contamination and the risk of infection compared to the standard methods already in use. In this pilot study we tested a member of the oral streptococci family, that is not a component of the biofilm detected on the walls of DUWL, but is frequently detected in water samples from DUWL, due to human fluid retraction during dental therapy. Namely, the pathogenic bacterial species Streptococcus mutans. We employ elastic acoustic waves at high-energy in preventing S. mutans adhesion to the inner walls of an experimental water circuit reproducing a DUWLs. To stress the capability of acoustic waves to interfere with bacterial adhesion also in extreme conditions, a high S. mutans contamination load was adopted. We observe a significant decrease of adherent bacteria exposed to acoustic waves treatment respect to control. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of acoustic waves in counteracting the adhesion of S. mutans to the inner walls of an experimental water circuit reproducing a DUWL, opening up new prospects for future practical applications. The interesting results, so far obtained, require an in-depth analysis of the methods regarding both the various bacterial species involved and the infective charges to be used.

Editors' Choice—Solar-Electrochemical Platforms for Sodium Hypochlorite Generation in Developing Countries

On-site generation of sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) holds the potential to bring an efficient and cost-effective water disinfection method to isolated and remote locations. Solar-driven, stand-alone reactors could provide those communities full independence by ensuring continuous treatment of drinking water. In this study we build and compare the performance of two different classes of electrolyzers for sodium hypochlorite generation: the first one is flow-based, mimicking those commercially employed at large scale; the second class is batch-type, exemplifying a cheaper, simpler and more robust alternative, more suitable for developing countries. The performance of such devices has been assessed and it has been observed that the batch-type reactor suffers from lower current yields due to the loss of oxidized products. Nevertheless, the mechanism can be compensated by introducing structures (i.e. through holes) in the electrode plate. This has been validated experimentally and computationally. The efficiency and cost-effectiveness of solar-driven hypochlorite reactors have been assessed. Our study reveals that tailored solar modules are essential to ensure high conversion efficiencies and the cost competitiveness of the hypochlorite generated. Flow-based devices recorded superior performance and need smaller electrode areas to be powered; nevertheless, they are less suitable for deployment in remote and isolate locations due to reliability issues, and hurdles in components replacement. Batch-type devices are likely more amenable for such contexts, despite they require roughly 13 times larger electrodes, leading to hypochlorite production costs 6 times higher. Our study is the first thorough investigation of sodium hypochlorite generators specifically designed for deployment in developing countries, and could foster further research and engineering efforts in the domain of water disinfection in developing countries.

Recent Advances in the Disinfection of Water Using Nanoscale Antimicrobial Materials

AbstractThe microbial contamination of water is highlighted as a global problem that threatens human life. Specifically, the lack of clean and safe water has resulted in a high number of deaths annually and thus poses a great challenge to humans. The traditional water purification methods typically consume high amounts of energy, exhibit low disinfection efficiency, and result in the production of toxic by‐products. Therefore, the development of methods for efficient water disinfection is of great significance. Nanomaterials have shown promising prospects in water disinfection due to their unique properties. Recent progress in the use of nanomaterials for water disinfection is summarized herein. The recently developed methods for the synthesis of antibacterial nanomaterials, including metallic nanoparticles, nanosized carbide and nitrides, are depicted, and the structures, morphologies, instincts, and performances of the nanomaterials in bactericidal tests are discussed. In addition, the antibacterial mechanisms and the dominant elements influencing the antimicrobial activities of the nanomaterials are reviewed in detail. Although recent years have shown remarkable progress in water disinfection using nanomaterials, the development of disinfection agents with improved nanoeffects and performance, low toxicity, increased cost efficiency, and easier operation remains urgent.

Drinking water bacterial communities exhibit specific and selective necrotrophic growth

Physicochemical water disinfection methods result in the reduction of bacterial concentrations by orders of magnitude, but not in the total elimination of the bacterial community. As such, the dead bacterial biomass may act as a carbon and nutrient source for the survivor populations. The ability of bacterial strains to grow on dead bacterial cells has been described before as necrotrophy. We investigated the impact of killed bacterial biomass of two different bacterial strains on the growth potential of natural drinking water microbial communities. Many indigenous bacterial taxa could grow on dead biomass, with the total bacterial concentration increasing from 104 to 108 cells/ml. Necrotrophic growth was specific (43 enriched taxa) and selective (i.e. enriched taxa were dependent on the type of dead biomass). The potential of natural water communities to grow necrotrophically has remained underexplored. Nevertheless the phenomenon can have a big impact in water quality and deserves more attention.

Edible Dye-Enhanced Solar Disinfection with Safety Indication.

The rural developing world faces disproportional inequity in drinking water access, where point-of-use water treatment technologies often fail to achieve adequate levels of pathogen removal, especially for viruses. Solar disinfection (SODIS) is practiced because of its universal applicability and low implementation cost, though the excessively long treatment time and lack of safety indication hinder wider implementation. This study presents an enhanced SODIS scheme that utilizes erythrosine-a common food dye-as a photosensitizer to produce singlet oxygen for virus inactivation and to indicate the completion of water disinfection through photobleaching color change. Experimental results and predictions based on global solar irradiance data suggest that over 99.99% inactivation could be achieved within 5 min in the majority of developing countries, reducing the time for SODIS by 2 orders of magnitude. Preserving the low cost of traditional SODIS, erythrosine embodies edible dye-enhanced SODIS, an efficient water disinfection method that could potentially be used by governments and non-governmental organizations to improve drinking water quality in rural developing communities.

Bacteriological Assessment of Bottled Drinking Water Available at Major Transit Places in Mangalore City of South India.

Introduction Safe drinking water is essential for human life. It is generally considered that bottled water is safe for usage by people. For long-distance travelers, it serves as the only source of reliable drinking water. But, several studies have reported that bottled water does not always meet the acceptability standards. Objectives To assess the bacteriological and physical quality of bottled water marketed in major transit areas and to check its compliance with national standards. Methods The investigating team visited retail shops at three main transit sites for long-distance travelers in Mangalore city. A total of 24 water bottles of 12 brands were randomly selected. The analysis of total viable count (TVC) was done to assess the bacteriological quality of samples. Results In 3(12.5%) samples, all of which were of local brands, batch number, the period of manufacture, and the period of expiry were not mentioned. Odor and floating bodies were present in one sample each. Five (20.8%) water bottles had been enriched with minerals. Ozone treatment was the most commonly 22(91.7%) used method for disinfection of water. In only 15(62.5%) samples, the bacterial contamination was within acceptable limits certified for drinking purposes. Water samples manufactured by multinational companies (p=0.018), those with batch number mentioned (p=0.042), the best period of manufacture (p=0.036), and long expiry dates (p=0.028) were acceptable for usage. Conclusion Surveillance of bottled water manufacturing industries in the settings on a regular basis needs to be done by regulatory agencies. These measures will ensure safe and wholesome bottled water for public usage.

Repeated hot water and steam disinfection of Pari LC Plus® nebulizers alter nebulizer output

Currently, cystic fibrosis patients require daily nebulized treatments to achieve optimal lung health. Growth of pathogenic bacteria in patient nebulizers is well known, and disinfection guidelines have been established. In this short communication, we sought to discover what effect, if any, repeated nebulization/disinfection cycles had on nebulizer output. We nebulized saline repeatedly after exposure to boiling water, steam, and alcohol disinfection methods. While alcohol disinfection did not affect nebulizer output, boiling water and steam significantly decreased nebulizer output from baseline, 74.1 ± 5.9% (p = 0.022) and steam 63.6 ± 6.5% (p = 0.0048) after 60 cycles respectively. This decrease in nebulizer output could significantly increase the duration of nebulizer treatment time and negatively impact the burden of care on patients with cystic fibrosis.

Fabrication of visible-light-driven silver iodide modified iodine-deficient bismuth oxyiodides Z-scheme heterojunctions with enhanced photocatalytic activity for Escherichia coli inactivation and tetracycline degradation

At present, various organic pollutants and pathogenic microorganisms presented in wastewater have severely threatened aquatic ecosystem and human health. Meanwhile, semiconductor photocatalysis technology for water purification has attracted increasingly significant attention. Herein, we successfully constructed a series of novel visible-light-driven (VLD) Bi4O5I2/AgI hybrid photocatalysts with different AgI amounts. Compared with pristine AgI and Bi4O5I2, Bi4O5I2/AgI with the optimal AgI contents exhibited remarkably enhanced photocatalytic performance in probe experiment for Escherichia coli (E. coli) disinfection and tetracycline (TC) degradation. The efficiency for TC degradation and E. coli inactivation reached 82% and 100% in 30 min, respectively. The enhanced electron-hole separation efficiency was responsible for improved photocatalytic activity. In addition, the destruction process of the chemical structure of TC molecules was further investigated by three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectra (3D EEMs). The activity and crystal phase of the catalysts did not change significantly after four cycles, demonstrating their excellent recyclability and stability of catalysts. The Ag+ ion leaking experiments, radical trapping experiments and ESR tests demonstrated that OH, O2− and h+ were the main active species in photocatalytic disinfection processes. Furthermore, the photocatalytic mechanism of Bi4O5I2/AgI nanomaterials was discussed in detail in conjunction with the energy band structure, and a reasonable Z-scheme interfacial charge transfer mechanism was proposed. This work is expected to provide an efficient water disinfection method.

Synthesis, Characterization and Bactericide Properties of Pure and Li Doped ZnO Nanoparticles for Alternative Water Disinfection Methods

As a consequence of growing water demand and pollution, waterborne disease outbreaks are on the rise, and current disinfection methods have shown to be ineffective in inactivating all pathogens during water treatment. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) have been reported to possess antimicrobial properties due to oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen species. Also, ZnO has high thermal and chemical stability and low toxicity, which makes these NPs an excellent candidate for water treatment applications. Furthermore, incorporation of lithium in the crystal structure of ZnO NPs should enhance the production of reactive oxygen species. Accordingly, this work addresses the effect of Li doping on the bactericidal properties of ZnO nanorods synthesized using a polyol-based process. X-ray diffraction analyses confirmed the wurtzite ZnO phase; the incorporation of Li in the ZnO structure was evidenced by the systematic shift of the diffraction peaks. Scanning electron microscopy characterization was used to determine morphology and size. Ultraviolet–visible and photoluminescence spectroscopy measurements was used to evaluate the optical properties of the synthesized nanoparticles. The antibacterial activity of pure and doped ZnO NPs was evaluated against E. coli, S. typhimurium and E. faecalis. Minimum inhibitory concentration was determined using a simple microdilution method. Also, growth curves of the test bacterium were generated using the colony count method to better elucidate the possible bactericide mechanisms of synthesized nanoparticles.

Usefulness of Sunlight and Artificial UV Radiation Versus Chlorine for the Inactivation of Cryptosporidium Oocysts: An in Vivo Animal Study.

BACKGROUND:Cryptosporidium is an important waterborne protozoan.AIM:The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of sunlight being the natural source of UV and artificial UV irradiation on Cryptosporidium oocysts versus the effect of chlorination, being the traditional method of water disinfection and to provide an insight into the viability and degree of infectivity of Cryptosporidium oocysts, using an animal model.METHODS:An experimental study including 300 neonatal mice was carried out to investigate the effect of artificial ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and sunlight being the natural source of UV irradiation versus chlorine, the traditionally used water disinfectant on the infectivity of Cryptosporidium oocysts present in water. For each item, nine different exposure times were investigated. Parasitological assessment (Modified Ziehl Neelsen stained stool smears) and histopathological assessment of the excised segments of the small intestine (stained by both Haematoxylin & Eosin and ZN stain) of mice were used to verify the inactivation of oocysts.RESULTS:Cryptosporidium oocysts failed to induce any noticeable infection after 4 hours of artificial UV exposure that provided a UV dose of 10mJ/cm2 and after an 8 hours exposure to sunlight, whereas they showed resistance to disinfection by chlorine.CONCLUSION:The results of the study demonstrate the important role of an 8 hours sunlight exposure of potable water in plastic bottles in achieving complete inactivation of any contaminating Cryptosporidium oocysts, thus offering an applicable, economical and convenient method for the control of cryptosporidiosis especially in developing countries.

Water disinfection methods and their affect on legionellosis

La legionelosis es una enfermedad respiratoria causada por la bacteria Legionella spp. y de origen preferente en sistemas de dispersion de agua. El objetivo fue determinar si los metodos de desinfeccion del agua empleados en los sistemas de enfriamiento pueden estar relacionados con el cumplimiento hotelero de la legislacion sanitaria espanola para la prevencion de la legionelosis. Se realizo un analisis de componentes principales y correspondencias aplicado sobre una muestra de equipos de intercambio aire-agua (torres de refrigeracion, condensadores evaporativos y adiabaticos) correspondientes a hoteles (n = 26) ubicados en la provincia de Malaga, Espana, y metodos de desinfeccion vinculados (cloracion, radiacion ultravioleta, ozonizacion, bromacion e ionizacion cobre-plata). El periodo de estudio comprendio los anos 2004-2009. Se presento una asociacion positiva entre diferentes metodos e instalaciones, asi como una correspondencia de los primeros con ciertas categorias de hoteles. La cloracion se relaciono con los hoteles de dos, tres y cinco estrellas, en torres de refrigeracion y condensadores evaporativos; los de cuatro estrellas presentaron una relacion con la ozonizacion e ionizacion cobre-plata, identificandose esta ultima con los condensadores adiabaticos; y los de gran lujo con la radiacion ultravioleta, sin asociacion con instalaciones especificas. El grado de correspondencia sugiere que existe una relacion especifica entre la prevencion de la legionelosis en instalaciones de alto riesgo del sector hotelero y los sistemas de desinfeccion del agua.

A comparative study of the disinfection efficacy of H2O2/ferrate and UV/H2O2/ferrate processes on inactivation of Bacillus subtilis spores by response surface methodology for modeling and optimization

Although chlorination can inactivate most of the microorganisms in water but protozoan parasites like C. parvum oocysts and Giardia cysts can resist against it. Therefore, many researches have been conducted to find a novel method for water disinfection. Present study evaluated the synergistic effect of H2O2 and ferrate followed by UV radiation to inactivate Bacillus subtilis spores as surrogate microorganisms. Response surface methodology(RSM) was employed for the optimization for UV/H2O2/ferrate and H2O2/ferrate processes. By using central composite design(CCD), the effect of three main parameters including time, hydrogen peroxide, and ferrate concentrations was examined on process performance. The results showed that the combination of UV, H2O2 and ferrate was the most effective disinfection process in compare with when H2O2 and ferrate were used. This study indicated that by UV/H2O2/ferrate, about 5.2 log reductions of B. subtilis spores was inactivated at 9299 mg/l of H2O2 and 0.4 mg/l of ferrate concentrations after 57 min of contact time which was the optimum condition, but H2O2/ferrate can inactivate B. subtilis spores about 4.7 logs compare to the other process. Therefore, the results of this research demonstrated that UV/H2O2 /ferrate process is a promising process for spore inactivation and water disinfection.

Community based cross sectional study to assess the drinking water handling practices and its association with water borne diseases at household level, in a tribal community

Background: 71% of India resides in its villages. The living conditions in rural areas are poor, which make India’s rural population more vulnerable to inaccessibility of safe drinking water and high risk of water borne diseases. Water safety in a community depends on a range of factors, from the quality of source water to storage and handling in the domestic setting. The present study was conducted to understand the knowledge and practices about hygiene of drinking water.Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional observational study was conducted in Sakhawar a tribal village of Palghar district, Mumbai, Maharashtra, to study the water handling practices in households and its association with the prevalence of water borne diseases. One Pada was selected randomly for study. The duration of data collection was three months. All the houses in the Pada were included in the study.Results: Of the 152 households included in the study, 47.4% did not use any method of water disinfection whereas 15% used boiling and 40% used chlorination as a method of water disinfection. Tap water was the commonest source of drinking water used by 52.6% of households. Only 7.9% subjects used ladle to draw stored water. The prevalence of water borne diseases was 81.57% and was significantly associated with distance of drinking water source from house, education status, family type, duration of water supply, knowledge of water disinfection methods and water disinfection practiced.Conclusions: Health education, promotion and practice of hygienic water handling practices can significantly reduce water borne diseases morbidity.

Microbial Community Composition of Tap Water and Biofilms Treated with or without Copper-Silver Ionization.

Copper-silver ionization (CSI) is an in-house water disinfection method primarily installed to eradicate Legionella bacteria from drinking water distribution systems (DWDS). Its effect on the abundance of culturable Legionella and Legionella infections has been documented in several studies. However, the effect of CSI on other bacteria in DWDS is largely unknown. To investigate these effects, we characterized drinking water and biofilm communities in a hospital using CSI, in a neighboring building without CSI, and in treated drinking water at the local water treatment plant. We used 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing and Legionella culturing. The sequencing results revealed three distinct water groups: (1) cold-water samples (no CSI), (2) warm-water samples at the research institute (no CSI), and (3) warm-water samples at the hospital (after CSI; ANOSIM, p < 0.001). Differences between the biofilm communities exposed and not exposed to CSI were less clear (ANOSIM, p = 0.022). No Legionella were cultured, but limited numbers of Legionella sequences were recovered from all 25 water samples (0.2-1.4% relative abundance). The clustering pattern indicated local selection of Legionella types (Kruskal-Wallis, p < 0.001). Furthermore, one unclassified Betaproteobacteria OTU was highly enriched in CSI-treated warm water samples at the hospital (Kruskal-Wallis, p < 0.001).

Metal-free virucidal effects induced by g-C3N4 under visible light irradiation: Statistical analysis and parameter optimization

Waterborne viruses with a low infectious dose and a high pathogenic potential pose a serious risk for humans all over the world, calling for a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly inactivation method. Optimizing operational parameters during the disinfection process is a facile and efficient way to achieve the satisfactory viral inactivation efficiency. Here, the antiviral effects of a metal-free visible-light-driven graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) photocatalyst were optimized by varying operating parameters with response surface methodology (RSM). Twenty sets of viral inactivation experiments were performed by changing three operating parameters, namely light intensity, photocatalyst loading and reaction temperature, at five levels. According to the experimental data, a semi-empirical model was developed with a high accuracy (determination coefficient R2 = 0.9908) and then applied to predict the final inactivation efficiency of MS2 (a model virus) after 180 min exposure to the photocatalyst and visible light illumination. The corresponding optimal values were found to be 199.80 mW/cm2, 135.40 mg/L and 24.05 °C for light intensity, photocatalyst loading and reaction temperature, respectively. Under the optimized conditions, 8 log PFU/mL of viruses could be completely inactivated by g-C3N4 without regrowth within 240 min visible light irradiation. Our study provides not only an extended application of RSM in photocatalytic viral inactivation but also a green and effective method for water disinfection.

Effect of ultrasonic cavitation on small and large organisms for water disinfection during fish transport

Motivated by the need for additional tools to disinfect discharge water from well boats, and to prevent distribution of salmon lice, the effect of ultrasonic cavitation on the planktonic stages of the salmon louse, nauplii and copepodids, as well as marine heterotrophic bacteria, and the marine green microalgae Tetraselmis suecica, has been investigated. Survival and morphology were registered after different exposure times. Efficacy of the ultrasonic cavitation treatments varied with exposure time. A reduction in survival was registered even for the shortest exposure time (5 seconds) for both naupliar and copepodid stages of the salmon louse (36.7 ± 11.5 and 67.20 ± 7.2% survival respectively). Survival reached zero after exposure times of 20 and 60 seconds for the nauplii and copepodid stages, respectively. A reduction in 70% was observed for bacteria at all exposure times (5 to 300 s), while a reduction of 95% was observed after 300 s for algal cells. The logged energy transfer to the samples was on average 17.5 J/s. In conclusion, cavitation treatment is destructive for the planktonic stages of salmon lice, and may contribute to reduce discharge of pathogens and parasites from well boats when adapted for this purpose and combined with existing water disinfection methods.

Screening of Japanese Rice Cultivars for Seeds with Heat Stress Tolerance under Hot Water Disinfection Method

Screening of Japanese Rice Cultivars for Seeds with Heat Stress Tolerance under Hot Water Disinfection Method

Electrochemically assisted photocatalysis: Highly efficient treatment using thermal titanium oxides doped and non-doped electrodes for water disinfection

Electrochemically assisted photocatalysis (by electronic drainage) is a highly promising method for disinfection of water. In this research, the efficiency of photolytic oxidation using UV-A radiation and electrochemically assisted photocatalysis (with electric potential of 1.5 V) was studied by using electrodes prepared by thermal treatment and doped with silver, for inactivation of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The Chick-Watson microorganism inactivation model was applied and the electrical energy consumption of the process was calculated. It was observed no significant inactivation of microorganisms when UV-A light or electric potential were applied separately. However, the electrochemically assisted photocatalytic process, with Ag-doped electrode completely inactivated the microbial population after 10 (E. coli) and 60 min (S. aureus). The best performing non-doped electrodes achieved 52.74% (E. coli) and 44.09% (S. aureus) inactivation rates after 60 min. Thus, electrochemically assisted photocatalytic activity was not only effective for the inactivation of microorganisms, but also notably low on electrical energy consumption during the treatment due to small current and low electric potential applied.

Processing of radiation sterilized bones for allograft transplantation

Gastrointestinal waterborne diseases, continue to stand out among the most lethal diseases in developing countries, because of consuming contaminated water taken from unsafe sources. Advances made in recent decades in methods of solar water disinfection (SODIS) have shown that SODIS is an effective and inexpensive method of providing drinking water, capable of substantially reducing the prevalence and mortality of waterborne diseases. The increased impact of SODIS in communities lacking drinking water services depends on a successful upgrade from conventional SODIS (based on PET bottle reactors) in high flow continuous flow systems for solar water disinfection (CFSSWD). This review aimed to identify the main limitations of conventional SODIS that hinder its application as a large-scale drinking water supply strategy, and to propose ways to overcome these limitations (without making it economically inaccessible) based on the current frontier of advances technological.It was found that the successful development of the CFSSWD depends on overcoming the current limitations of conventional SODIS and the development of systems whose configurations allow combining the properties of solar pasteurization (SOPAS) and SODIS. Different improvements need to be made to the main components of the CFSSWD, such as increasing the performance of solar radiation collectors, photo and thermal reactors and heat exchangers. The integration of disinfection technologies based on photocatalytic and photothermal nanomaterials also needs to be achieved. The performance evaluation of the CFSSWD should be made considering resistant microorganisms, such as the environmental resistance structures of bacteria or protozoa (spores or (oo)cysts) as targets of disinfection approaches.

Solar photocatalytic disinfection of agricultural pathogenic fungi (Curvularia sp.) in real urban wastewater

The interest in developing alternative water disinfection methods that increase the access to irrigation water free of pathogens for agricultural purposes is increasing in the last decades. Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) have been demonstrated to be very efficient for the abatement of several kind of pathogens in contaminated water. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate and compare the capability of several solar AOPs for the inactivation of resistant spores of agricultural fungi. Solar photoassisted H2O2, solar photo-Fenton at acid and near-neutral pH, and solar heterogeneous photocatalysis using TiO2, with and without H2O2, have been studied for the inactivation of spores of Curvularia sp., a phytopathogenic fungi worldwide found in soils and crops. Different concentrations of reagents and catalysts were evaluated at bench scale (solar vessel reactors, 200mL) and at pilot plant scale (solar Compound Parabolic Collector-CPC reactor, 20L) under natural solar radiation using distilled water (DW) and real secondary effluents (SE) from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. Inactivation order of Curvularia sp. in distilled water was determined, i.e. TiO2/H2O2/sunlight (100/50mgL−1)>H2O2/sunlight (40mgL−1)>TiO2/sunlight (100mgL−1)>photo-Fenton with 5/10mgL−1 of Fe2+/H2O2 at pH3 and near-neutral pH. For the case of SE, at near neutral pH, the most efficient solar process was H2O2/Solar (60mgL−1); nevertheless, the best Curvularia sp. inactivation rate was obtained with photo-Fenton (10/20mgL−1 of Fe2+/H2O2) requiring a previous water adicification to pH3, within 300 and 210min of solar treatment, respectively. These results show the efficiency of solar AOPs as a feasible option for the inactivation of resistant pathogens in water for crops irrigation, even in the presence of organic matter (average Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC): 24mgL−1), and open a window for future wastewater reclamation and irrigation use.