I specialize in biotech medical devices, environmental and facility equipment.
They are now working on uv lights to disinfect medical workers hands between patients so not to cross-contaminate and it works.
What I should have told everyone was that ultraviolet light will disinfect their pots for up to 2 years between uses, when treated properly. I want to make this clear, you must disinfect between each use. Which means that germs/bacteria/microbes from one batch will not be carried over the next by contaminated pots. You can disinfect your tools, etc.
Just remember you can blind yourself, never and I mean never look at the light or its reflection. Always err on the side of caution. Put your equipment into a light tight container, close and secure it, then turn on the light for a short period of time and presto! Disinfected equipment.
And, it will disinfect water, too. I am not a microbiologist and I am not a PhD so with that being said, in a thumb nail sketch this is how it works. UV disinfection of bacteria causes damage to the cells. The damaged cells are then unable to replicate, and without replication they can not infect. If there is a microbiologist onboard maybe they can explain exactly the how and the why.
The wavelength that they disinfect water with is about 85% in the 253.7 nm, which falls in the optimal range of germicidal activity.
I do not believe I would use in on my soil since it will kill the good with the bad and there is tons of good stuff there, plus it would be hard to do. If there is any beneficial organisms in the water they will be killed off too, but I'm not sure there is any that I would worry about (I guess, now I'm going to have read up on this). So if there is any beneficial bacteria in your water you will have toasted them.
Hope that helps explain some. I'm working with some UV equipment right now, once I get a male I'll give it a try. My little ones are about 3 weeks away from sexing, so I'll let you know how uv disinfection works on males-I doubt it will have any effect on them.
Is there anyone out there willing to try the ionic lights on males?
Fudgie