It has been demonstrated that a mixture of free chlorine and 3-chloro-4,4-dimethyl-2-oxazolidinone (compound I) is an effective water disinfectant. A small amount of free chlorine in the mixture provides rapid initial disinfection, with a larger amount of compound I maintaining disinfection efficacy over a long period of time. The mixtures used in this study disinfected against several challenges of Staphylococcus aureus for 30 or more days. In some cases the actions of the free chlorine and compound I may have been synergistic. Includes 26 references, table, figure.