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For USP 24 Purified Water, reverse osmosis is used to remove chemicals but requires an additional water treatment step for disinfection. In practice, reverse osmosis membranes allow a fraction of living bacteria to pass through minor imperfections, or bypass the membranes entirely through tiny leaks in the surrounding seals. In European countries reverse osmosis is not allowed under European law for treating natural mineral water. Dissolved ozone is preferred over chlorine, bromide and other sanitizers simply because ozone does not leave disinfection byproducts in water. Commonly, purified water is ozonated to 0.5 ppm to ensure microbiological purity and then the ozonated water is treated with UV lights to destroy the ozone before the water goes into any products.

Bottled Water

The FDA protects consumers of bottled water through the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). The current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) regulations require bottled water to be microbiologically safe. Bottlers of all types of waters typically use ozone gas as an antimicrobial agent. Bottled water is sealed with 0.1 ppm to 0.3 ppm dissolved ozone to guarantee microbial safety. Ozone gas is preferred over chlorine and other sanitizers because ozone disappears in less than 20 minutes after sealing, does not add residual taste, odors or disinfection byproducts to bottled water.