"New Water"

The Seine is a river of filth; yet Parisians willingly drink its waters. The Moskva traces an equally grimy course through Moscow, but Muscovites will soon be able to hold a glass under the kitchen faucet and savor Moskva water straight. The citizens of Singapore and Amsterdam, too, will shortly be able to drink from their polluted rivers. Between the stream and the lip, in all these cases, is a remarkable process developed in France that changes effluent into elixir.

The key ingredient in the process is not chlorine, which purifies most of the U.S. water supply, but a gas called ozone --a form of oxygen with three (rather than the more common two) atoms in its molecular structure. Ozone is formed when ordinary gaseous oxygen is exposed to electrical discharges or ultraviolet radiation; it has a characteristic acrid odor noticeable after electrical storms and in the vicinity of ultraviolet lamps. In large concentrations, it is dangerous to breathe because it oxidizes, or burns, healthy tissue. Bubbled through water, it attacks and oxidizes polio and other harmful viruses, and completely eliminates foul smells and bad-tasting pollutants. When its extra oxygen atoms are pulled away to combine with or oxidize impurities, the ozone becomes ordinary oxygen, leaving no residue.

Chemical Frenzy. The French began experimenting with ozonization at the turn of the century, but they were long held back by the high cost of producing ozone. In 1968, however, when the Compagnie Generale des Eaux opened a highly automated $27.5 million plant in the Paris suburb of Choisy-le-Roi, it proved that a sizable city could afford ozone treatment.

Choisy-le-Roi takes in up to 2,450 gallons of raw Seine water per second and puts it through a series of preliminary steps not unlike those in any U.S. water plant. First comes a "scrubbing" with ferric chloride and other chemicals; then the heavier particles of dirt are allowed to settle to the bottom of tanks while the lighter ones are removed by filtering. Elsewhere in the plant, in twelve huge stainless-steel containers, ozone is produced by bombarding dried, refrigerated and pressurized air with up-to-20,000-volt bolts of electricity.

When the ozone is pumped into the water tanks, millions of tiny white bubbles explode into action, whipping the water to a froth. After twelve minutes of chemical frenzy, the water flows into the company's distribution system, thoroughly purified. It is called eau nouvelle (new water). Parisians love it.

So do 10 million other Frenchmen in 30 urban areas and 300 small communities, plus an increasing number of citizens in other countries. This year in Moscow, the Compagnie Generale des Eaux will install a $5,000,000 ozone-producing machine--the world's largest. Recently the company signed agreements to build major new plants in Singapore, Brussels and Aleppo, Syria. Canada has 20 smaller facilities in operation; Japan has 21, Britain four. The U.S. has only now begun to operate pilot plants, including one in Chicago, to purify its dirty waters with ozone. One reason for America's reluctance to use the process is that ozonization is slightly more expensive than chlorination. Furthermore, U.S. officials argue that chlorine is safer because it persists throughout the distribution process, while ozone's effects stop when the water leaves the plant. But the French point out that the possibility of contamination in the distribution system is practically nil. Paul Louis Girardot, director of the Compagnie Generale des Eaux, has a better explanation for the U.S. ozonization lag. "There is a long chlorine tradition in the U.S. As everyone knows, chlorine leaves a strong taste that probably gives Americans a feeling of security. They know that the water they drink has been treated, that their sanitary services have done their job."

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