In the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, relevant authorities have urged the public to wash hands frequently and maintain regular disinfection. Especially in venues such as hospitals where exposure to pathogens is high, disinfection protocols must be strictly enforced. But will excessive disinfection lead to groundwater pollution? This article offers a brief analysis to clarify the issue.
The purpose of disinfection is clear: to cut off the transmission of viruses and contain the spread of infectious diseases. However, continuous disinfection carried out even when there is no viral risk counts as excessive disinfection. While it can impact surface water and soil, it will not cause severe pollution to groundwater sources. Even so, excessive disinfection is never recommended, as it brings certain hazards and poses a relatively great impact on the ecological environment.
To be specific, if a large amount of bleach accumulates in freshwater, it will drive up the total residual chlorine content in the water, resulting in the death of aquatic fish. It will take a long time for the water source to return to normal, creating a noticeable disruption to river ecosystems.
To be precise, whether disinfectants cause groundwater pollution depends largely on the duration of use. Long-term and sustained over-disinfection allows disinfectants to seep into groundwater through surface water and soil, so there is no absolute answer to this question. Simply put, unnecessary frequent disinfection — such as routinely disinfecting three times a day like having meals — is completely unnecessary for ordinary households.
Of course, disinfection is indispensable for complex venues like hospitals. The standard practice is to adopt appropriate disinfection measures tailored to different scenarios. Excessive disinfection leaves residual disinfectants that harm the environment. In the long run, this will also affect human health and damage daily items. Therefore, we should implement disinfection in a scientific and moderate manner.
Chlorine disinfection is the most common form of disinfection in daily practice. Though disinfection is essential for hospitals, the dosage must still be controlled to ensure rational and moderate use. At this point, the RCl900 Online Total Residual Chlorine Analyzer serves as an excellent helper for real-time monitoring of total residual chlorine in water.
Hence, in wastewater monitoring, besides conventional indicators, targeted indicators should be monitored according to actual conditions. For instance, total residual chlorine and coliform bacteria are crucial monitoring indicators in hospital wastewater surveillance.
