Availability of efficient and affordable water treatment technologies that decrease bacterial, viral and protozoan burden in rural communities is still a challenge. Despite the high efficiency of chlorination, it generally requires storage of the disinfectant and its qualified use. Similar problems are associated with UV and ozonation. The alternatives are mostly reagent-free technologies like membranes, solar irradiation or electrochemistry where the latter is able to generate free chlorine from chloride ions naturally presented in drinking water. The aim of the study was to evaluate electrochemical disinfection as a reagent-free method for microbial inactivation in drinking water.