ABSTRACT
Statistics of the Pan American Health Organization show that in the Latin American and the Caribbean Region, almost one in every two houses does not receive safe water. Good quality water, made safe by proper disinfection, seems to be a rarity, especially in the rural environment. More than a disinfection technique, exposing water to the sun has been an attractive idea fascinating the imagination of the sanitary engineer for a long time. Solar disinfection has never been popular, however, due to the fact that too many factors may affect the efficiency of the treatment: from the environmental point of view - latitude, altitude, and the limpidness of the skies; from the water side - turbidity, contamination level, other ions; from the container - material, thickness, and color. UV Radiation is an old technology, which was first used for disinfection purposes in 1910. The simplest UV disinfection device is a container where the water passes through in a controlled way.
