City of Saratoga Springs
As part of a comprehensive program to meet long-term water supply needs, the City of Saratoga Springs implemented an Ultraviolet Radiation (UVR) disinfection process at its Excelsior Avenue Water Treatment Plant. The new disinfection process, which utilizes UVR for primary disinfection and sodium hypochlorite (i.e., chlorine bleach) as a secondary disinfectant, has the capacity to disinfect up to 11 million gallons of water per day prior to its distribution to City water customers.
While UVR has been used to disinfect drinking water for years on a small scale, the Saratoga Springs water treatment plant is one of the first in New York State to utilize UVR for primary disinfection of a public water supply that draws its water from a surface water source (i.e., lake or stream). Recent advances in the technology have made it possible for UVR to be used to effectively and efficiently disinfect public drinking water supplies on a much larger scale.