Using Check‐If‐Apply Lists to Improve Communication About Aesthetic Water Issues

Key TakeawaysAesthetic water quality is an important but sometimes inadequately addressed aspect of providing a safe and reliable drinking water supply.In the United States, federal regulations provide a starting point for maintaining aesthetic water quality; however, this framework falls short of providing the tools needed to effectively implement the standards.A water safety planning approach can complement regulatory frameworks or be used as an industry standard for better management of aesthetic water quality.

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing Drinking Water Aesthetics With Water Safety Planning

Burlingame,

Dietrich,

Adams

et al. 2024

“…T&O events can create a public relations nightmare within a matter of hours for water systems, so it is important to proactively handle customer complaints for systems with regular issues (Burlingame 1999). Appropriately categorizing complaints can improve a utility's response, and systematically grouping complaints builds a record of seasonal water quality variations (Dietrich & Burlingame 2021). Customer contact information should be recorded, as well as information about the complaint, the duration of the problem, the location of occurrence, and any other factors that can aid in complaint investigation and determination (Dietrich 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Successfully Detecting and Mitigating Algal Blooms and Taste and Odor Compounds

Adams¹,

Southard²,

Reeder³

et al. 2021

After receiving hundreds of complaints, the City of Wichita Falls, Texas, developed a plan for monitoring harmful algal blooms to detect and mitigate taste and odor (T&O) compounds and cyanotoxins.The plan uses sensory analysis, genuslevel or functional-group identification, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry/ electron capture detector, data sondes, and quantitative polymerase chain reaction to monitor blooms for T&O issues and cyanotoxins before they become problems.When blooms are detected, mitigation efforts include source-switching, pretreatment, oxidation, and adsorption, which have eliminated customer complaints following more than 60 years of unmitigated T&O cycles.

An Update on Taste, Odor, and Appearance Methods for Water Analysis

Shawwa,

Adams,

Burlingame

et al. 2024

Key TakeawaysMany sensory methods are standardized, and new ones are being developed, to assess the aesthetic quality of source water and treated drinking water.In Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, sections 2110 and 2150 have been updated, and section 2150D, “Attribute Rating Test” (ART), has been added.ART is a technique for numerically rating water samples by sensory evaluation for the presence of taste and odor compounds.Sensory tests—screening panelists for their ability to smell compounds—should be part of a utility's sensory program.