Drinking Water Infrastructure Research Articles

Determining a Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) analysis model for large diameter prestressed concrete water pipelines

Which maintenance task to perform on an asset is generally known but the schedule of when to perform the task may not be well defined. If the task is performed early, while it may benefit the asset, it may also be expending resources that could be better used elsewhere. If the task is not performed soon enough, the asset may fail, or the asset may require more extensive maintenance be performed. Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is an analysis process used to determine the most effective maintenance strategies. RCM analysis can help an agency establish the most cost effective maintenance strategies for an asset and help establish the best schedule for implementing those strategies. The ultimate goal of an RCM is to determine the required function of an asset with the required reliability at the lowest operation and maintenance costs by identifying revealing indicators of potential failures to establish a condition based strategy; essentially, predicting failures and identifying procedures to minimize the risk of the failure. This paper reviews potential models for predicting the progression of distress of prestressed concrete pipe segments for use in an RCM analysis and proposes a regression model operators can use to forecast when to perform maintenance activities. The paper further considers the condition of the drinking water infrastructure in the United States, developing the case for evaluating predictive models to forecast when a pipeline may reach a specified limit state. The results of this study suggest that RCM analyses for large diameter water pipelines can improve reliability, reduce maintenance costs, and extend the useful life of a pipeline regardless of age or material. Further, using a regression style model with gathered data can be used to forecast when specific maintenance thresholds may be reached, prompting predictive maintenance actions.

Automated GIS-based decision tool for rehabilitation of a drinking water infrastructure in Tlemcen, Algeria

Water resource management relies heavily on the utilization of decision-making systems to guide the strategic rehabilitation and renovation of infrastructure within water distribution networks (WDNs). This study aims to develop and apply a scripting tool in ArcGIS for decision-making in WDN. It combines a collection of decision support systems, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and multi-criteria analysis, for infrastructure renovation and rehabilitation. The research is divided into two main sections. The first focuses on creating and implementing the analytic hierarchy process tool in ArcGIS, while the second discusses its application in the study area, which is the drinking water distribution network of an urban area in Tlemcen, located in the Northwest of Algeria. The study’s results reveal that 25% of the network is in critical condition and require immediate rehabilitation. Sixty-two percentage of the network is classified as moderately urgent, indicating a pressing but less immediate need for intervention. Finally, the remaining 13% of the network requires attention over a longer timeframe for rehabilitation. The main criteria influencing pipe prioritization are material (26% of total weight), laying date (26% of total weight), and pressure (20% of total weight). This developed tool can be easily adapted and applied by engineers and water management officers. It serves as a guide for decision-makers and planners in urban water management in Tlemcen and can be replicated and applied to other areas worldwide.

From advanced hydraulic modelling to performance indicator for the efficiency of investments in leakage management of pressurized water systems

IntroductionThe digital transition is meant as the review of processes using digital technologies and strategies to increase efficiency based on a simpler collection of representative data. The process of interest here is the leakage management in systems distributing water. ObjectiveTo develop a novel key performance indicator (KPI) for leakage management considering the needs of ongoing digital transition in the water sector, which is opening a new era in the management of drinking water infrastructures. MethodologyThe novel KPI, named Asset Management Support Indicator, is developed starting from advanced hydraulic modelling and the physical laws governing leakage outflows, in order to be physically based and rational for increasing the efficiency of leakage management activities using representative process data. ResultsThe Asset Management Support Indicator supports effective leakage management strategies by driving towards efficiency, as discussed and demonstrated using several real case studies. ConclusionThe novel indicator is consistent with the digital transition perspective and current need of increasing the efficiency of water utilities, and it is also suitable to be adopted by water authorities to benchmark their performances, because it overcomes the weaknesses of traditional KPIs.

Modeling and Control of Drinking Water Supply Infrastructures Through Multi-Agent Systems for Sustainability

Traditionally, drinking water supply infrastructures have been designed to store as much water as possible and to do so during the energy cheap hours. This approach is unsustainable today. The use of digital systems capable of modeling the behavior of infrastructures and the creation of intelligent control systems can help to make drinking water supply systems more efficient and effective, while still meeting minimum service requirements. This work proposes the development of a control system, based on multi-agent systems (MAS), capable of generating an intelligent control over a drinking water infrastructure, based on the use of local interests of the agents and with an emergent behavior coherent with the needs. To validate the proposal, a simulator based on the infrastructures of a medium-sized Spanish city of 5000 inhabitants has been built and the control has been simulated using the MAS. The results show how the system can maintain the objectives set, handling unknown situations, and facilitating the development of future physical systems based on a just-in-time paradigm that guarantees sustainability, as it allows the generation of virtualizations of the infrastructures and their behavior, thus being able to study the best option for an infrastructure to resolve a supply situation.

A holistic framework for evaluating and planning sustainable rural drinking water projects in sub-Saharan Africa

Clean water facilities and services are failing the population of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), hindering the goal of “Water for All” owing to unsustainable drinking water projects and infrastructure. A vast body of literature has examined the lack of sustainability in drinking water projects, identifying: economic, technological, planning, social and political factors. However, much of the existing literature reflects fragmented and siloed thinking, often focusing on specific issues without a holistic view, masking root causes, and overlooking multi-level stakeholder involvement, necessitating deeper analysis. In addition, most studies view individual projects as pertaining to a single spatial level—such as the village level—detached from its regional or global ecosystem. This paper introduces the “Holistic Integrated Framework” developed through a study in Siaya County, Kenya, on the sustainability of water projects aimed at bridging these gaps. This tool can enhance our understanding of sustainability, allowing for a comprehensive examination and understanding of the problems. It enables the identification of multiple spatial and governance levels and their cross referencing with sustainability categories. It uncovers essential underlying factors driving project sustainability and assesses stakeholders' interconnectedness as well as the direct impact of their actions, thus assisting in addressing the myriad obstacles to sustainability. Furthermore, it identifies the regional feedback loops that perpetuate these problems. The tool is exemplified through a case study illustrating the complexity and fragility of sustainability's, emphasizing the need for a detailed, comprehensive analysis to mitigate risks.

Using symbolic machine learning to assess and model substance transport and decay in water distribution networks

Drinking water infrastructures are systems of pipes which are generally networked. They play a crucial role in transporting and delivering clean water to people. The water quality analysis refers to the evaluation of the advective diffusion of any substance in drinking water infrastructures from source nodes. Such substances could be a contamination for the system or planned for the disinfection, e.g., chlorine. The water quality analysis is performed by integrating the differential equation in the pipes network domain using the kinetics of the substance decay and the Lagrangian scheme. The kinetics can be formulated using a specific reaction order depending on the substance characteristics. The basis for the integration is the pipes velocity field calculated by means of hydraulic analysis. The aim of the present work is to discover the intrinsic mechanism of the substance transport in drinking water infrastructures, i.e., their pipes network domain, using the symbolic machine learning, named Evolutionary Polynomial Regression, which provides “synthetic” models (symbolic formulas) from data. We demonstrated, using one real network and two test networks, that the concentration at each node of the network can be predicted using the travel time along the shortest path(s) between the source and each node. Additionally, the formula models provided by symbolic machine learning allowed discovering that a unique formula based on kinetic reaction model structure allows predicting the residual substance concentration at each node, given the source node concentration, surrogating with a good accuracy the integration of the differential equations.

Auroville, the city of Nature's Yoga: material, spiritual and sustainable architecture and urbanism

This article aims to reflect on ongoing research that investigates cosmopolitical and spiritual practices in Auroville, an urban experience in southern India that emerged from the teachings of Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950), creator of Integral Yoga, philosopher, yogi, poet and icon of the nationalist struggle. This city adopts sustainable urban planning and architecture techniques that seek to be an example for the creation of a new human being integrated into the cosmos, living a collective life centered on the Yoga of Nature. Auroville aims to be "the city the world needs" and to inspire other cities towards sustainable practices, enabling a transformation in the world. The city center is a temple dedicated to concentration and meditation, but not linked to any religion. Ecological and spiritual practices act as guidelines for a more balanced and natural collective life, enabling an integration of material-spiritual architecture and urbanism with nature. The methodology used included in-depth interviews and participant observation during the field visit. The one-month experience in Auroville showed that, despite its many positive aspects, the contradictions inherent in such an experience are inevitable. The concentration of national and international resources, the recovery of the soil and forest, the solutions to guarantee drinking water supplies, roads, paths and infrastructure in general have changed the entire region. Spiritual tourism and commercial migration have contributed to a process of micro-regional real estate speculation. An internal conflict over the direction of the city and its surroundings, over the very integration of city-nature, is worrying Aurovillians today.

On sharing the costs of public drinking water infrastructure renewal among users with different preferences

On sharing the costs of public drinking water infrastructure renewal among users with different preferences

Impact of corrosion inhibitors on antibiotic resistance, metal resistance, and microbial communities in drinking water.

Corrosion inhibitors, including zinc orthophosphate, sodium orthophosphate, and sodium silicate, are commonly used to prevent the corrosion of drinking water infrastructure. Metals such as zinc are known stressors for antibiotic resistance selection, and phosphates can increase microbial growth in drinking water distribution systems (DWDS). Yet, the influence of corrosion inhibitor type on antimicrobial resistance in DWDS is unknown. Here, we show that sodium silicates can decrease antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs), while zinc orthophosphate increases ARB and ARGs in source water microbial communities. Based on controlled bench-scale studies, zinc orthophosphate addition significantly increased the abundance of ARB resistant to ciprofloxacin, sulfonamides, trimethoprim, and vancomycin, as well as the genes sul1, qacEΔ1, an indication of resistance to quaternary ammonium compounds, and the integron-integrase gene intI1. In contrast, sodium silicate dosage at 10 mg/L resulted in decreased bacterial growth and antibiotic resistance selection compared to the other corrosion inhibitor additions. Source water collected from the drinking water treatment plant intake pipe resulted in less significant changes in ARB and ARG abundance due to corrosion inhibitor addition compared to source water collected from the pier at the recreational beach. In tandem with the antibiotic resistance shifts, significant microbial community composition changes also occurred. Overall, the corrosion inhibitor sodium silicate resulted in the least selection for antibiotic resistance, which suggests it is the preferred corrosion inhibitor option for minimizing antibiotic resistance proliferation in DWDS. However, the selection of an appropriate corrosion inhibitor must also be appropriate for the water chemistry of the system (e.g., pH, alkalinity) to minimize metal leaching first and foremost and to adhere to the lead and copper rule. IMPORTANCE Antibiotic resistance is a growing public health concern across the globe and was recently labeled the silent pandemic. Scientists aim to identify the source of antibiotic resistance and control points to mitigate the spread of antibiotic resistance. Drinking water is a direct exposure route to humans and contains antibiotic-resistant bacteria and associated resistance genes. Corrosion inhibitors are added to prevent metallic pipes in distribution systems from corroding, and the type of corrosion inhibitor selected could also have implications on antibiotic resistance. Indeed, we found that sodium silicate can minimize selection of antibiotic resistance while phosphate-based corrosion inhibitors can promote antibiotic resistance. These findings indicate that sodium silicate is a preferred corrosion inhibitor choice for mitigation of antibiotic resistance.

Drinking water quality and social vulnerability linkages at the system level in the United States

Growing recognition of water quality concerns, particularly in socially vulnerable communities in the United States, has prompted recent policies and investments to improve drinking water system performance. Current environmental justice tools limit measurement of drinking water quality issues to proximity to point-source contamination, such as superfund sites and social vulnerability to county level or zip code level data. We examined relationships between health-based (HB) drinking water quality violations and social vulnerability using a new database of community water system (CWS) service areas and a modified Social Vulnerability Index, which we specifically designed for drinking water quality. CWSs with HB violations disproportionately impact socially vulnerable communities, with ∼70% of such systems characterized by high social vulnerability. Increased risks of drinking water quality violations in high socially vulnerable communities are attributed in part to violations related to pervasive, naturally occurring contaminants (e.g. arsenic) requiring treatment and difficulties for small systems to implement and maintain treatment systems. Notably, recurrence of any HB violation is also related to social vulnerability (R = 0.73). The relative importance of different social parameters, including socioeconomic status, race and language, and demographics and housing characteristics, varies with the type of violation. Further understanding linkages between drinking water quality violations and social vulnerability is essential for optimizing the deployment of, and motivating the next tranche of newly available drinking water infrastructure funding that is heavily prioritized toward disadvantaged communities.

Unimproved source of drinking water and its associated factors: a spatial and multilevel analysis of Ethiopian demographic and health survey

BackgroundDrinking water quality has been a major public health concern in lower and middle income countries where access to improved water supplies is limited. Ethiopia is thought to have one of the worst drinking water infrastructures in the world. This study aimed to assess the spatial variation and determinants of using unimproved sources of drinking water in Ethiopia using recent nationally representative data.MethodsA population-based cross-sectional study was employed with the recent EDHS data of 2019. A total of 8663 households were sampled using a stratified two-stage cluster sampling method. Kuldorff’s SaTScan version 9.6 software was used to generate spatial scan statistics. ArcGIS version 10.7 software was used to visualize the spatial patterns of unimproved drinking water sources. A multilevel multivariable mixed-effect logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with the use of an unimproved drinking water source. In the multivariable multilevel analysis, those variables with a p-value < 0.05 were considered to be significant predictors of using an unimproved source of drinking water.ResultAround 31% (95% CI: 30%, 32%) of the population in Ethiopia uses unimproved sources of drinking water with significant spatial variation across the country. Households aged 41–60 [AOR = 0.69; 95%CI; 0.53, 0.89] as compared to the households aged 10–25, households having middle wealth index [AOR = 0.48; 95%CI; 0.40, 0.59], and households having a rich wealth index [AOR = 0.31; 95%CI; 0.25, 0.39] as compared to the poor households, living in high community literacy level [AOR = 0.36; 95%CI; 0.16, 0.80], living in high-level community poverty [AOR = 3.03; 95%CI; 1.32, 6.98], rural residence [AOR = 7.88; 95%CI; 2.74, 22.67] were significant predictors of use of unimproved source of drinking water. Hot spot areas of use of unimproved drinking water sources were observed in Amhara, Afar, and Somalia regions and some parts of SNNPR and Oromia regions in Ethiopia. The primary clusters were found in Ethiopia’s Somalia and Oromia regions.ConclusionAround one third of the Ethiopian population utilizes unimproved source of drinking water and it was distributed non-randomly across regions of Ethiopia. The age of the household head, wealth status of the household, residence, community poverty level, and community literacy level were found to be significantly associated with utilizing unimproved drinking water source. State authorities, non-governmental organizations and local health administrators should work to improve the quality of drinking water particularly for high risk groups such as communities living in high poverty and low literacy, poor households, rural residents, and hot spot areas to decrease the adverse consequences of using unimproved drinking water source.

Socio-spatial Infrastructures

This paper explores the social and spatial implications of drinking water infrastructures in rural southern Bihar. Hardiya, a multi-caste and multi-religion village, has a complex social arrangement. This village consists of original households, households resettled due to dam construction, and households resettled due to excessive fluoride contamination in groundwater. Excessive fluoride produces incidences of fluorosis among households, and historically, households have low access to clean drinking water. In response to the drinking water and public health crisis, multiple state, non-state, and transnational institutions intervened in Hardiya to provide safe technologies and infrastructures for clean drinking water. These twenty years of interventions have brought different technologies, institutions, and actors together to supply drinking water. However, these schemes are functioning inadequately on the ground, and access to clean water remains a big question amidst the development of drinking water infrastructures in Hardiya. This paper explores the dialectical relationship between drinking water infrastructures and social spaces, how both shape each other, through which assemblages, and what it renders. It explores the uneven outcomes of this technological intervention across different socio-spatial groups in Hardiya...

Comparison of modern and 40-year-old drinking water pipeline in northern Sinai region, Egypt: Characteristics and health risk assessment

BackgroundDrinking water quality is crucial for human health and well-being. This study evaluated the impact of replacing old asbestos pipelines with modern Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) ones on drinking water quality in the North Sinai governorate of Egypt. Ninety-two water samples were collected from nine locations along the pipeline from Qantara water station to El-Arish city, and their microbiological and chemical characteristics were assessed. MethodsThis investigation was carried out during June and July 2019 to evaluate the drinking water in two distribution nets; old asbestos distribution pipes and new Polyvinyl Chloride water tubes (PVC). Microbiological analyses such as most probable number (MPN), total bacterial count (TBC), chemical assessments (water pH, electrical conductivity; EC, dissolved organic carbon; DOC), and health risk index (HRI) for multi-element concentrations were conducted. Standard analyses were followed to assess the water quality index (WQI) and Metal index (MI) and study the improvement percentage in the element's concentrations. ResultsThe highest values of TBC were in the city center district (219 CFUs mL−1), followed by Abu Saqual (184 CFUs mL−1), Resa (174 CFUs mL−1), and recently constructed pipes (80 CFUs mL−1). The pH (7.52 - 7.50) and EC (320 to 958 dSm−1) were within permissible limits. No bacterial indicators of fecal pollution were found in all drinking water samples. Results showed that the modern pipeline network significantly improved the concentrations of 23 elements, with the most significant improvements observed in cadmium (66.2%) and potassium (40.7%). HRI results for multi-element concentrations showed an impact on human health in Abu Saqual. WQI showed a decrease of 30% in toxic element concentration in the current pipelines, and MI assessment showed safe concentrations. ConclusionDrinking water's biological and chemical properties significantly improved, which matched global guideline standards. Our findings highlight the importance of regularly monitoring and updating drinking water infrastructure to ensure safe and high-quality drinking water.

Land development and road salt usage drive long-term changes in major-ion chemistry of streamwater in six exurban and suburban watersheds, southeastern Pennsylvania, 1999–2019

In urbanized areas, the “freshwater salinization syndrome” (FSS), which pertains to long-term increases in concentrations of major ions and metals in fresh surface waters, has been attributed to road salt application. In addition to FSS, the water composition changes as an influx of sodium (Na+) in recharge may displace calcium (Ca2+), magnesium (Mg2+), potassium (K+), and trace metals by reverse cation exchange. These changing ion fluxes can result in adverse impacts on groundwater and surface waters used for municipal supplies. Few datasets exist to quantify the FSS on a watershed scale or link its manifestation to potential controlling factors such as changes in urban development, land use/land cover (LULC), or wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharges in upstream areas. Here, we use two decades (1999–2019) of monthly streamwater quality data combined with daily streamflow for six exurban and suburban watersheds in southeastern Pennsylvania to examine the relations among Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+, chloride (Cl−), sulfate (SO42-), and alkalinity (HCO3−) concentrations and upstream controlling factors. Flow-normalized annual and baseflow (August ̶ November) concentrations for Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, and Cl− increased in all six watersheds over the 20-year study, providing evidence of FSS’s impacts on groundwater that sustains streamflow. Additionally, a redundancy analysis using 2019 flow-normalized values identified the following positive associations between solute concentrations and controlling variables: 1) Cl−, Mg2+, and Ca2+ with impervious surface cover (ISC), 2) Na+ and SO42- with ISC and total WWTP discharge volume, and 3) HCO3− with agriculture and total WWTP discharge volume. From a human health perspective, 2019 flow-normalized Na+ concentrations exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 20 mg L-1 threshold for individuals restricted to a low sodium diet. Furthermore, indices used to evaluate the corrosivity of source waters to drinking water infrastructure and inform municipal water treatment practices, such as the Chloride to Sulfate Mass Ratio and Larson Ratio, increased between two- and seven-fold over the 20-year time. Collectively, the results elucidate the causal factors of the FSS in suburban and exurban watersheds and its potential impacts on human health and drinking water infrastructure.

Mapping of cholera hotspots in Kenya using epidemiologic and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) indicators as part of Kenya's new 2022-2030 cholera elimination plan.

Cholera is an issue of major public health importance. It was first reported in Kenya in 1971, with the country experiencing outbreaks through the years, most recently in 2021. Factors associated with the outbreaks in Kenya include open defecation, population growth with inadequate expansion of safe drinking water and sanitation infrastructure, population movement from neighboring countries, crowded settings such as refugee camps coupled with massive displacement of persons, mass gathering events, and changes in rainfall patterns. The Ministry of Health, together with other ministries and partners, revised the national cholera control plan to a multisectoral cholera elimination plan that is aligned with the Global Roadmap for Ending Cholera. One of the key features in the revised plan is the identification of hotspots. The hotspot identification exercise followed guidance and tools provided by the Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC). Two epidemiological indicators were used to identify the sub-counties with the highest cholera burden: incidence per population and persistence. Additionally, two indicators were used to identify sub-counties with poor WASH coverage due to low proportions of households accessing improved water sources and improved sanitation facilities. The country reported over 25,000 cholera cases between 2015 and 2019. Of 290 sub-counties, 25 (8.6%) sub-counties were identified as a high epidemiological priority; 78 (26.9%) sub-counties were identified as high WASH priority; and 30 (10.3%) sub-counties were considered high priority based on a combination of epidemiological and WASH indicators. About 10% of the Kenyan population (4.89 million) is living in these 30-combination high-priority sub-counties. The novel method used to identify cholera hotspots in Kenya provides useful information to better target interventions in smaller geographical areas given resource constraints. Kenya plans to deploy oral cholera vaccines in addition to WASH interventions to the populations living in cholera hotspots as it targets cholera elimination by 2030.

English

Rural communities in low-income countries rely on intermittent water supply, defined as access to water for less than 24 h a day. The path to continuous water supply requires electricity as well as water infrastructures, which in turn requires the necessary finance for investment. We show that a sample of 16 Least Developed Countries (as classified by the UN) do not yet meet the minimum conditions necessary to implement continuous water supply, mainly because they do not have the finance. Building up an infrastructure requires investments, using earned foreign exchange or loans, to build up electricity capacity, water treatment plants and a distribution pipe network. But once a country has the electricity infrastructure and the basic water mains, its remote areas can then be served through low-cost investment into a system called &ldquo;trickle fill.&rdquo; Vietnam, having developed fast through export earnings, was able to increase its electricity production and expand its drinking water infrastructure. But there are still people in rural Vietnam without access to drinking water. We show that where there are water mains, continuous supply can be extended further through &ldquo;trickle fill.&rdquo; We describe a freely available user-friendly decision-making tool for a feasibility study for a trickle fill solution and describe countries where this solution has been successfully implemented. For developing countries, we show that there is no shortcut to converting intermittent water supply to continuous water supply without adequate foreign exchange earnings which can then be invested in electricity and water infrastructure. Key words: Foreign exchange, intermittent water, least developed countries, trickle fill, Vietnam.

Exploring the Impacts of Full-Scale Distribution System Orthophosphate Corrosion Control Implementation on the Microbial Ecology of Hydrologically Connected Urban Streams.

Many cities across the nation are plagued by lead contamination in drinking water. As such, many drinking water utilities have undertaken lead service line (LSL) replacement to prevent further lead contamination. However, given the urgency of lead mitigation, and the socioeconomic challenges associated with LSL replacement, cities have used phosphate-based corrosion inhibitors (i.e., orthophosphate) alongside LSL replacement. While necessary to ensure public health protection from lead contamination, the addition of orthophosphate into an aging and leaking drinking water system may increase the concentration of phosphate leaching into urban streams characterized by century-old failing water infrastructure. Such increases in phosphate availability may cascade into nutrient and microbial community composition shifts. The purpose of this study was to determine how this occurs and to understand whether full-scale distribution system orthophosphate addition impacts the microbial ecology of urban streams. Through monthly collection of water samples from five urban streams before and after orthophosphate addition, significant changes in microbial community composition (16S rRNA amplicon sequencing) and in the relative abundance of typical freshwater taxa were observed. In addition, key microbial phosphorus and nitrogen metabolism genes (e.g., two component regulatory systems) were predicted to change via BugBase. No significant differences in the absolute abundances of total bacteria, Cyanobacteria, and "Candidatus Accumulibacter" were observed. Overall, the findings from this study provide further evidence that urban streams are compromised by unintentional hydrologic connections with drinking water infrastructure. Moreover, our results suggest that infiltration of phosphate-based corrosion inhibitors can impact urban streams and have important, as-yet-overlooked impacts on urban stream microbial communities. IMPORTANCE Elevated lead levels in drinking water supplies are a public health risk. As such, it is imperative for cities to urgently address lead contamination from aging drinking water supplies by way of lead service line replacements and corrosion control methods. However, when applying corrosion control methods, it is also important to consider the chemical and microbiological effects that can occur in natural settings, given that our water infrastructure is aging and more prone to leaks and breaks. Here, we examine the impacts on the microbial ecology of five urban stream systems before and after full-scale distribution system orthophosphate addition. Overall, the results suggest that infiltration of corrosion inhibitors may impact microbial communities; however, future work should be done to ascertain the true impact to protect both public and environmental health.

Use of Different Metal Chlorides and Acetates as Road Salts and the Study of their Consequent Effects on Water Quality Parameters

Abstract: Highway salts are crucial to the transportation and highway maintenance enterprises in India or elsewhere to diminish glaze formation and sustain traffic safety in frigid climatic provinces like Kashmir, Ladakh, and Himachal Pradesh. However, increased highway salts usage and resulting in source water contamination have the prevailing essence for the putrefaction of drinking water infrastructure and damage to foliage along the roadside and aquatic ecosystems. This study circulates around the use of various types of salts, and their impacts on water quality parameters and focuses on the selection of most effective, economical salt to reduce ice formation on roads.

Barriers to water infrastructure investment: Findings from a survey of U.S. local elected officials

Investment in U.S. drinking water infrastructure is not keeping pace with need, contributing to water service failures that threaten public health, economic development, and community water security. Many explanations for lagging investment focus on the motivations of local elected officials, but those explanations are not rooted in research on elected officials’ own expressed views. We surveyed a representative nationwide sample of approximately 500 city and county officeholders about their perceptions of need for investment and barriers to meeting that need. Analysis of closed-ended and open-ended question responses reveals that the main barriers to investment are financial: incumbents weigh the cost of capital projects against the debt burden and affordability challenge created by those investments. Their concern about public opposition to rate increases is an important constraint on decisions to invest in water infrastructure. Our results also demonstrate disparities across communities in the perceived fiscal burden of water infrastructure. The great majority of elected officials expressed little concern about the condition of infrastructure in their own communities, but concern about infrastructure condition was positively correlated with concern about making investments, pointing to the financial stress for decision makers who bear the expense of deteriorating water systems.

Strategi Manajemen KPSPAMS Tirta Mulya Dalam Penerapan Iuran Pelanggan Air Minum Untuk Desa Keberlanjutan PAMSIMAS

Achieving the SDG's target of providing access to drinking water for the entire community requires effort and hard work from the government. Several drinking water infrastructure development programs have been launched by the government to meet basic service needs for the community, especially in rural areas. However, in the development phase of the construction phase, the developed Village SPAM experienced different developments. This study aims to determine the sustainability of the community based rural drinking water supply system and the factors that influence it sustainability of the system. This research uses a qualitative approach with a case study method. The research design used is an olistic multicase study with two research villages, namely Piji Village and Gintungan Village. The results of the Continuation of SPAM in Mekar Jaya Village since 2017 have become part of one of the BUMDES business units in Mekar Jaya Village. Home connected services have grown from SR 50 at the start of operations to SR 235 in 2018. And in inkind since PAMSIMAS 1 support from HID and PAMSIMAS III. Likewise, they also accept that the residents are willing to pay the water usage fee of Rp. 1.500/m3 and a management fee of Rp. 2,000/month. The community did not object because they considered it the amount of water they received.