Ozone is utilized as an oxidizing agent and a germicide. When employed as a disinfectant in drinking water, ozone oxidizes organic matter and effectively reduces color and odor impurities. Ozone is being used more and more as an oxidizing agent because of its efficiency.As a result of its oxidizing potential ozone has the advantage of reducing the time normally required for sterilization. Ozone is dangerous for human health (depending on ozone concentration and time of exposure), and those plants that use this sterilizing agent (swimming pools, bottled water and drinking water), normally have to apply a process of de-ozonization, at the end of the sterilization process. Ozone is also used in reverse-osmosis.