Abstract
Chlorination is an effective and cheap disinfectant for preventing waterborne diseases-causing microorganisms, but its compounds tend to react with the natural organic matter (NOM), forming potentially harmful and unwanted disinfection by-products (DBPs) such as trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic acids (HAAs), and others. The present paper proposes a methodology for estimating the vulnerability with respect to users’ exposure to DPBs in water distribution systems (WDSs). The presented application considers total THMs (TTHMs) concentration, but the methodology can be used also for other types of DPBs. Five vulnerability indexes are adopted that furnish different kinds of information about the exposure. The methodology is applied to five case studies, and the results suggest that the introduced indexes identify different critical areas in respect to elevated concentrations of TTHMs. In this way, the use of the proposed methodology allows identifying the higher risk nodes with respect to the different kinds of exposure, whether it is a short period of exposure to high TTHMs values, or chronic exposure to low concentrations. The application of the methodology furnishes useful information for an optimal WDS management, for planning system modifications and district sectorization taking into account water quality.
Highlights
The disinfection of drinking water increases users’ protection by reducing their risk of exposure to pathogenic contamination and limiting the proliferation of microbial species [1,2]
The proposed methodology is applied to five case studies (Figure 1): the example network Net-3 introduced in the EPANET User’s Manual, the PW06 network by Prasad and Walter [46], the Anytown water distribution system [47], the main trunk of Aurunci Valcanneto Water Supply System (AVWSS) (Aurunci-Valcanneto Water Supply System) located in Lazio region, Italy [36], and the real network of Cimitile, which is located in South Italy
Sodium hypochlorite is supposed to be injected with a constant dosage equal to 0.68 mg/L, and the initial chlorine and total THMs (TTHMs) concentrations at any demand node are fixed equal to 0.68 mg/L and
Summary
The disinfection of drinking water increases users’ protection by reducing their risk of exposure to pathogenic contamination and limiting the proliferation of microbial species [1,2]. It has been observed that some DBPs have possible adverse health effects. They are carcinogenic potential substances [5,6,7], and some epidemiologic studies have raised the issue of potential adverse reproductive effects [8,9,10]. The exposure via non-ingestion routes, such as inhalation and dermal contact, may pose risks to human health [11,12]. For this reason, a good water distribution management with respect to chlorination requires the solution of two conflicting objectives: to maintain sufficiently high chlorine residual and low enough DPBs concentrations in the whole system
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