Triiodide combined with strong base anion exchange resins forms stable, nearly insoluble, complexes that have remarkable disinfecting capabilities. Complete kills are effected with water suspensions of virus (both DNA and RNA) Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria (whether capsulated or not), and viability of sporulating Bacilli species is reduced up to 99.9%. Water to be treated is simply passed through a column of the resin-complex. The bacteria or virus, shown by 14C or 3H tracers, pass through the column and are not filtered out. Kill is immediate and irreversible. No I2, I3(-), IO(-), IO(3(-), and IO4(-) are detected when the cadmium iodide-linear starch reagent method was used. Iodide, the halide form, was found in amounts ranging from 0.2-0.5 PPM. This is well below the taste threshold and indeed may be considered beneficial in iodine deficient areas.