ABSTRACT

This chapter explores various methods of water disinfection for depuration purposes. The elimination of potential human pathogenic microbes from the tissues of bivalve mollusks is termed depuration. The process can occur naturally when contaminated shellfish are exposed to purified seawater. Their tissues are cleansed by the passage of water through the filter-feeding mechanism. This process of depuration can also occur through human manipulation of the shellfish environment. The method used to enhance depuration consisted of relaying contaminated bivalves to clean waters and harvesting the cleansed shellfish after an appropriate time interval. Ultraviolet light can eliminate microbial pathogens from water by causing irreversible damage to the DNA of the pathogen. Chlorinated seawater is used in depuration facilities to cleanse the outer shells of bivalves by removing the adhering dirt and fecal material containing microbes pathogenic to humans. Several studies have shown that ozone gas, the triatomic form of oxygen, is able to disinfect seawater and bivalves exposed to ozonized seawater.