Chlorine is by far the most commonly used drinking water disinfectant in all regions of the world. Today, about 98 percent of U.S. water treatment systems use some type of chlorine disinfection process to help provide safe drinking water. By a huge margin, sodium hypochlorite is the disinfectant used by the vast majority of small (<10,000 population) water systems. Hypochlorite is also the most hazardous chemical used by most of these water systems. If improperly handled, sodium hypochlorite can create a hazardous and potentially fatal environment.

This leaning event will give operators of small water system with the knowledge, skills and resources necessary to safely handle and reliably feed sodium hypochlorite. This training will be presented in two 2-hour sessions.

Session #1 will cover the safe handling of sodium hypochlorite. This session will include: the physical and chemical properties of sodium hypochlorite, safe handling of sodium hypochlorite, understanding hypochlorite decay and its effect on treatment, and how to read and use the sodium hypochlorite SDS.

Session #2 will cover sodium hypochlorite treatment. This session will include: origins of germ theory and history of chemical disinfection, basic mechanisms of chemical disinfection, 20 Best practices for feeding hypochlorite, and the operation of hypochlorite feed pumps.

This learning event will benefit all water system operators that use hypochlorite.