Abstract: Electropurification of contaminated aqueous media, such as ground water and wastewater from industrial manufacturing facilities like paper mills, food processing plants and textile mills, is readily purified, decolorized and sterilized by improved, more economic open configuration electrolysis cell designs with electrodes comprising a plurality of conductive porous elements in electrical contact with one another. The cells may be divided or undivided, and connected in monopolar or bipolar configuration. When coupled with very narrow capillary gap electrodes more economic operation, particularly when treating solutions of relatively low conductivity is assured. The novel cell design is also useful in the electrosynthesis of chemicals, both organic and inorganic types, such as hypochlorite bleaches and other oxygenated species.