The Unexpected Role of Dissolved Oxygen Levels in Wastewater Treatment

Water's importance for the prevention of nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases has received more attention recently because of the shift toward consumption of large proportions of fluids as caloric beverages. Water represents a critical nutrient, the absence of which will be lethal within days. Recently, increased emphasis has been placed on the value of water in preventing noncommunicable diseases linked to poor nutrition. The measurement of total fluid consumption and hydration status at the population level are areas where there are significant information gaps. It is poorly understood the effects of chronic mild dehydration and fluid consumption on specific health outcomes including obesity. Urolithiasis is the only disorder that has been consistently associated with chronic low daily water intake. Water’s extensive capability to dissolve a variety of molecules has earned it the designation of “universal solvent,” and it is this ability that makes water such an invaluable life-sustaining force. The discovery that the human body has the previously unknown ability to convert light energy into chemical energy by dissociating the molecule from water, as happens in plants, has given water a newfound significance. Until recently, water was primarily thought of as a universal solvent that served to prepare the broth of life inside the cells. The process that we replicated in the laboratory for the first time in 2007, represents a light at the end of the tunnel, in the growing and serious problem of contamination of the mysterious and vital liquid that we call water.

A characteristic of both drinking water and wastewater is low levels of dissolved oxygen. Until now it was thought that it was the result of contaminants in the precious liquid, and that as these contaminants were removed, even partially or incompletely, said dissolved oxygen levels would improve spontaneously. But such an increase has not happened anywhere in the world and with no known method. Except for the direct injection of oxygen into the water, which is excessively expensive.

In this publication we present a different method to raise dissolved oxygen (DO) levels in either drinking water or wastewater, and surprisingly, by raising DO levels, the water tends to improve its quality substantially, since bad odors disappear, transparency recovers, and organic molecules that may be present tend to disarm, forming simple compounds, which reduces the formation of toxic sludge. Another feature of our method is that it does not require electricity, nor added chemicals, and the average life of our novel material is 25 years.