Serious question -- because you seem to know this stuff, and I certainly do not --
I breathe O2. I absorb it into my body and it allows me to live. If I breathe too much carbon monoxide (O1 if you will) I will die. I am not sure but I think I will also die if I breathe too much ozone (O3). So it's O2 for me or else I'm in trouble.
I imagine that the same is somewhat true for algae.
If the article had basically said "Ozone kills algae" I would have accepted that immediately. But the article didn't say that. The article said "nano bubbles burst and this kills the algae".
That just seems like a stupid thing to say. And it wasn't an ignorant journalist saying it. This was the "expert" from the EPA. At the very least, I think the concept was poorly explained with too much emphasis on bubbles and not enough emphasis on the effects of ozone. Would you agree with that?
Maybe she is an expert in something but it is not in water treatment. And probably not science. She was probably a legislative liaison to congress.
If the article had basically said "Ozone kills algae" I would have accepted that immediately. But the article didn't say that. The article said "nano bubbles burst and this kills the algae".
Bursting bubbles has nothing to do with how ozone works. The ozone dissolves in water just like chlorine would and kills the Algae by reacting with it cell membrane. It would do the same thing with the cells of your lungs if you were to inhale Ozone.
This is a link to the Material Safety Data Sheet for Ozone in case you are interested. It tells you the dangers of ozone and emergency treatments incase someone was accidentally exposed on the job.
Anyone working with Ozone has to have this available to them under OSHA regulations.
https://www1.mscdirect.com/MSDS/MSDS00020/86598174-20171006.PDF