A Study of Failure Events in Drinking Water Systems as a Basis for Comparison and Evaluation of the Efficacy of Potable Reuse Schemes

Abstract

Potable reuse is implemented in several countries around the world to augment strained water supplies. This article presents a public health perspective on potable reuse by comparing the critical infrastructure and institutional capacity characteristics of two well-established potable reuse schemes with conventional drinking water schemes in developed nations that have experienced waterborne outbreaks. Analysis of failure events in conventional water systems between 2003 and 2013 showed that despite advances in water treatment technologies, drinking water outbreaks caused by microbial contamination were still frequent in developed countries and can be attributed to failures in infrastructure or institutional practices. Numerous institutional failures linked to ineffective treatment protocols, poor operational practices, and negligence were detected. In contrast, potable reuse schemes that use multiple barriers, online instrumentation, and operational measures were found to address the events that have resulted in waterborne outbreaks in conventional systems in the past decade. Syndromic surveillance has emerged as a tool in outbreak detection and was useful in detecting some outbreaks; increases in emergency department visits and GP consultations being the most common data source, suggesting potential for an increasing role in public health surveillance of waterborne outbreaks. These results highlight desirable characteristics of potable reuse schemes from a public health perspective with potential for guiding policy on surveillance activities.

Applying a modified aluminum sulfate solution in the processes of drinking water preparation

“…An analysis of existing methods to improve the operational efficiency of treatment plants in the preparation of drinking water reveals that there are new methods being developed to intensify the operation of these facilities. The most promising are those methods that are related to the modernization of existing, and the development of new, methods and designs of water treatment machines [3,4].…”

Development of Failure Cause–Impact–Duration (CID) Plots for Water Supply and Distribution System Management

“…A number of studies have been conducted in the water quality domain to analyze the causes of failures based on a statistical analysis of historical records. Onyango et al [14] investigated and classified the causes of pathogenic outbreaks in a WSDS with two potable water reuse schemes (i.e., direct and indirect potable reuse). They adopted an alphanumeric categorization system for failure events that had five possible failure locations and types, in which the numeric codes (1 to 5) indicated the cause of failure (e.g., water source extraction failure, disinfection system failure, distribution system failure, etc.…”

“…The outbreaks that occurred in 19 developed countries from 2003 to 2013 were summarized with the codes in a tabular form. In addition, a pie diagram that showed the proportional causes of pathogenic outbreaks was included in [14]: The majority of the outbreaks originated from failures in the management framework and inadequate infrastructure design (codes A and C). However, a more effective visualization method is required to present the relationship between the cause and consequence of failure at a glance (the consequence result was not included in [14]).…”

“…In addition, a pie diagram that showed the proportional causes of pathogenic outbreaks was included in [14]: The majority of the outbreaks originated from failures in the management framework and inadequate infrastructure design (codes A and C). However, a more effective visualization method is required to present the relationship between the cause and consequence of failure at a glance (the consequence result was not included in [14]). In addition, it is not clear that the approach in [14] is also a good solution for hydraulic failures in WSDS.…”

“…However, a more effective visualization method is required to present the relationship between the cause and consequence of failure at a glance (the consequence result was not included in [14]). In addition, it is not clear that the approach in [14] is also a good solution for hydraulic failures in WSDS.…”