There is a webpage on AirWaterBestPrices.com about Campbell Environmental Systems that claims to be a copper/silver/UV system that is chlorine-free and yet NSF certified. This is a complete lie. The NSF Standard 50 list of Copper/Silver and Copper Ion Generators does not list their system and furthermore ALL such systems have the following note demonstrating that chlorine or bromine is REQUIRED:
This post shows a kill time comparison between chlorine (roughly at active chlorine levels recommended by this forum) vs. copper and silver. At least the Campbell Environmental Systems product uses copper and silver since other products using copper alone won't kill fecal bacteria. However, as you can see from the chart, copper and silver do not kill bacteria quickly and they are not good with viruses or protozoa. Because they may not prevent person-to-person transmission of disease, they are not allowed to be used without chlorine in commercial/public pools in the U.S., Canada, Australia and countries in Europe following DIN 19643 or related standards. Residential pools are not regulated.
The website says that Cyanuric Acid contains cyanide, but that is yet another lie. Cyanuric Acid can produce some cyanide as a combustion product, but it is made from urea and its degradation in chlorinated water produces nitrogen and carbon dioxide gasses, hydrochloric acid and some intermediate chloramines (and a small amount of nitrogen trichloride) but not cyanide (see this post). This report describes the relatively low toxicity of cyanuric acid (less toxic than table salt). The website says "THIS IS A HIGHLY TOXIC SUBSTANCE WHICH HAS BEEN OUTLAWED IN SEVERAL STATES DUE TO THE ACCUMULATION OF CYANIDE IN THE POOL WATER" which is another lie. Cyanuric Acid has only been prevented from use in commercial/public pools in one state -- New York. The reason has nothing to do with cyanide, but rather that CYA reduces the active chlorine level and New York had outbreaks of Cryptosporidium parvum and felt that they wanted a higher active chlorine level also to be able to shock the pool per CDC guidelines (10 ppm FC with no CYA as described in Hyperchlorination to Kill Cryptosporidium).
The Partial User List for the product also has yet more lies since it has a heading of "CHLORINE - FREE SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS", yet a quick look at some of the commercial pools shows this is not true with the pools at YMCA Venice, FL and YMCA Flushing, NY where you can see it says "Chlorine-Free: No". In fact, it would be illegal for any commercial/public pool in the U.S. to not be chlorinated (or use another EPA-approved disinfectant such as bromine or Baquacil/biguanide/PHMB though the latter is only used in practice in some residential pools) as described by every state health code as listed by NSPF. The specific state codes for pools listed in the fraudulent webpage are:
Florida
New York
Will someone please sue this company for fraud!
One of the NSF certified products also states the following:
In addition, the NSF Standard 50 list of Ultraviolet Light Process Equipment does not list their system and ALL such systems have the following note:
The webpage refers to lay articles about chlorine health effects, but does not refer to nor analyze the actual studies themselves. As I describe in this post the epidemiological studies on chlorinated drinking water either show no increased risk of cardiovascular disease or are inconclusive or insufficient with regard to the relationship to cancer or outcomes of pregnancy. As I describe in this thread, a meta-analysis of studies showed no significant correlation between swimming during childhood and asthma while a recent conference concluded that a suggestive link was not conclusive and noted problems with existing studies. This post and ones following it discuss 3 studies of chlorinated swimming pools in Barcelona, Spain as well as the latest scientific info showing that chloroform is not the THM of concern, but rather it is the brominated THMs.
This post shows a kill time comparison between chlorine (roughly at active chlorine levels recommended by this forum) vs. copper and silver. At least the Campbell Environmental Systems product uses copper and silver since other products using copper alone won't kill fecal bacteria. However, as you can see from the chart, copper and silver do not kill bacteria quickly and they are not good with viruses or protozoa. Because they may not prevent person-to-person transmission of disease, they are not allowed to be used without chlorine in commercial/public pools in the U.S., Canada, Australia and countries in Europe following DIN 19643 or related standards. Residential pools are not regulated.
The website says that Cyanuric Acid contains cyanide, but that is yet another lie. Cyanuric Acid can produce some cyanide as a combustion product, but it is made from urea and its degradation in chlorinated water produces nitrogen and carbon dioxide gasses, hydrochloric acid and some intermediate chloramines (and a small amount of nitrogen trichloride) but not cyanide (see this post). This report describes the relatively low toxicity of cyanuric acid (less toxic than table salt). The website says "THIS IS A HIGHLY TOXIC SUBSTANCE WHICH HAS BEEN OUTLAWED IN SEVERAL STATES DUE TO THE ACCUMULATION OF CYANIDE IN THE POOL WATER" which is another lie. Cyanuric Acid has only been prevented from use in commercial/public pools in one state -- New York. The reason has nothing to do with cyanide, but rather that CYA reduces the active chlorine level and New York had outbreaks of Cryptosporidium parvum and felt that they wanted a higher active chlorine level also to be able to shock the pool per CDC guidelines (10 ppm FC with no CYA as described in Hyperchlorination to Kill Cryptosporidium).
The Partial User List for the product also has yet more lies since it has a heading of "CHLORINE - FREE SWIMMING POOLS AND SPAS", yet a quick look at some of the commercial pools shows this is not true with the pools at YMCA Venice, FL and YMCA Flushing, NY where you can see it says "Chlorine-Free: No". In fact, it would be illegal for any commercial/public pool in the U.S. to not be chlorinated (or use another EPA-approved disinfectant such as bromine or Baquacil/biguanide/PHMB though the latter is only used in practice in some residential pools) as described by every state health code as listed by NSPF. The specific state codes for pools listed in the fraudulent webpage are:
Florida
Massachusetts
It should be noted that the only equally effective disinfectant registered with the U.S. EPA other than chlorine and bromine is Baquacil/biguanide/PHMB for pools. For spas, Nature2 (silver ion) with MPS (potassium monopersulfate) is also approved. However, in practice, neither system is used in commercial/public pools, mostly due to cost.
New York
Virginia
Georgia
North Carolina
Also, it should be noted that none of copper/silver/UV oxidizes bather waste such as ammonia, urea, creatinine, etc. While UV can disinfect the water that passes through during circulation, it is not an oxidizer like chlorine. If one truly wanted a halogen-free system for a residential pool, then a copper/silver combo with a boron-doped diamond electrode oxidizer might be reasonable IF you carefully controlled the copper/silver and pH levels to prevent staining and you weren't worried about person-to-person transmission of disease.
Will someone please sue this company for fraud!