Abstract
Deteriorating water quality from aging infrastructure, growing threat of pollution from industrialization and urbanization, and increasing awareness about waterborne diseases are among the factors driving the surge in worldwide use of point-of-entry (POE) and point-of-use (POU) filters. Any adverse influence of such consumer point-of-use systems on quality of water at the tap remains poorly understood, however. We determined the chemical and microbiological changes in municipal water from the point of entry into the household plumbing system until it leaves from the tap in houses equipped with filters. We show that POE/POU devices can induce significant deterioration of the quality of tap water by functioning as traps and reservoirs for sludge, scale, rust, algae or slime deposits which promote microbial growth and biofilm formation in the household water distribution system. With changes in water pressure and physical or chemical disturbance of the plumbing system, the microorganisms and contaminants may be flushed into the tap water. Such changes in quality of household water carry a potential health risk which calls for some introspection in widespread deployment of POE/POU filters in water distribution systems.
Highlights
Water distribution systems can have a great impact on public health, especially when they harbor pathogens[17,18]
Water samples were collected between September 2015 and August 2016 from the following four locations in the household supply line of each housing unit: (i) Sample “A” – before the POE filter and should reflect the service line water (SLW) (ii) Sample “B” – before the POU device which should reflect the water in household plumbing system or household water (HHW) (iii) Sample “C” – tap water after the POU device or filtered tap water (FTW) (iv) Sample “D” – water sample retrieved from inside the POU unit
A large number of villas in Doha were found to use the Pentair Master Filtration system which consists of layers of gravel, course silica sand, medium silica sand, fine silica sand and zeolite topped by a bed of activate carbon
Summary
Water distribution systems can have a great impact on public health, especially when they harbor pathogens[17,18]. There is currently little information on the influence of POE/POU barriers on chemical and biological properties of household water from municipal water distribution systems. The household water distribution system in Doha can be regarded as a unique (synthetic) oligotrophic ecosystem with chemical and biological characteristics that influence the organoleptic properties of the treated water in ways that require the use of POU/POE filters by most households. POU units retrieved from a subset of 10 houses were broken open and the residue trapped in each unit was retrieved for analysis These 10 units were designed to represent different configurations (table top and under the sink varieties) and household use (single and multiple family dwellings)
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