Which of the following statements about ozone disinfection is NOT true?

Ozone disinfection is recognized for its effectiveness in water treatment, particularly due to its strong oxidizing properties, which enable it to inactivate a wide range of pathogens, including bacteria and viruses. One key aspect of ozone is that it naturally decomposes back into oxygen, contributing positively to dissolved oxygen levels in water. This is beneficial for aquatic ecosystems because having sufficient dissolved oxygen is crucial for the survival of various aquatic organisms.

While ozone is effective and can provide some collateral benefits to water quality, it is not without its risks. Studies have shown that ozone can indeed have toxic effects on certain aquatic organisms at elevated concentrations, contrary to the notion that it is non-toxic.

In terms of cost, ozone treatment systems can be more expensive to install and operate compared to traditional methods like chlorination. The initial investment for equipment, energy requirements for ozone generation, and the need for monitoring systems often make ozone disinfection more costly than chlorine, which has a long-standing history of use in water treatment and is generally less expensive to implement on a broad scale.

Therefore, the statement suggesting that ozone is approximately equal in cost to chlorine does not reflect the realities of operational and maintenance expenses associated with ozone technology in most applications.