Aging and deteriorating drinking water and wastewater pipelines have become a major problem in the United States, warranting significant federal attention and regulation. Many utilities have begun or improved programs to manage the renewal of their water and wastewater pipes and are proactively managing their pipeline assets rather than reactively fixing them. However, the extensive size of drinking water and wastewater systems and the severity of the deterioration problem are such that it is important to prioritize renewal, by assessing the condition of the pipelines and resolving the most severe situations first. There is a variety of condition assessment technologies and methodologies available and in current use. This research incorporates an extensive literature review on actual cases of use of these various condition assessment technologies and techniques. This research also compiles information gathered through interviews and data mining work with utilities across the United States. The combination of case studies collected through literature review and case studies collected directly from utility sources about actual application of drinking water and wastewater pipeline condition assessment practices used have made it possible to synthesize the current practices and trends regarding pipeline condition assessment in the United States. The synthesis also allows for the identification of key lessons learned that should be considered by utilities when implementing condition assessment of pipelines. Recommendations have also been made for research priorities for filling utility needs. / Master of Science

Although utilities attempt to avoid offensive smelling compounds in consumer's drinking water, their efforts are often hampered by a lack of data or knowledge of the physical, chemical, and sensory properties of odorants. Many factors affect the ability of a consumer to detect odors, including: concentration, presence of chlorine/other odorants, temperature, and the individual's sensitivity. This research developed a simplified static-headspace technique to determine Henry's Law constants at multiple temperatures and then use these data to calculate the enthalpy of solution so that new Henry's Law constants can be calculated at any temperature using the van't Hoff Equation. The method was applied to three taste-and-odor compounds of moderate water solubility (about 100 mg/L). 2-Methylisoborneol (2-MIB) is a methylated monoterpene alcohol that is produced by actinomycetes and blue-green algae and has a musty odor that is detectable at 4-10 ng/L water. Geosmin, also produced by actinomycetes and blue-green algae, has a detectable earthy odor at 5-10 ng/L. trans-2, cis-6-Nonadienal is enzymatically synthesized from poly-unsaturated fatty acids by diatoms like Synura and has cucumber and fishy odors detectable at 10-40 ng/L levels. The new static headspace method uses standard glassware used in odor-analyses. 500 mL wide-mouth Erlenmeyer flasks were modified with septum sampling ports to measure vapor phase concentrations by SPME/GC-MS. Unitless Henry's Law constants were determined at multiple temperatures using the vapor and aqueous phase concentrations. From the Henry's Law constants, the enthalpies of reactions were calculated. For these compounds, the values for Henry's Law constants ranged from 0.002 to 0.02 for four temperatures between 20 to 45 °C with geosmin and 2-MIB having similar and higher values than for nonadienal. The constants increased with increasing temperature. The enthalpies of vaporization from the aqueous phase were determined to be in the range of 50-80 kJoule/mole. The experiments were repeated with fulvic acid added to the aqueous media at different concentrations. The Henry's Law constants were decreased with the presence of fulvic acid; however no correlation between the concentration of fulvic acid and the decrease was observed. The decrease in constants for 2-MIB and geosmin were very small compared to nonadienal. Finally the measured Henry's Law constants were used to predict gas phase concentrations of odorants for known aqueous concentrations of geosmin, 2-MIB, and nonadienal. The results were correlated to the human sensory data obtained from flavor profile analysis. The data demonstrated that as the gas phase concentration increased, the perceived odor intensity also increased, but only up to a certain point. The vapor phase concentration increased linearly as the aqueous phase concentration increased, but the FPA intensity increased at a lower rate and leveled-off. The increase in the FPA rating at 25ï °C was greater than at 45 °C although the vapor phase concentration was greater at 45 °C. For samples containing 400 and 600 ng/L geosmin, 400 and 600 ng/L, 2-MIB, 100 and 200 ng/L nonadienal, the increase in gas phase concentration did not increase the FPA ratings of the panelists. It was concluded that, utilities will be challenged to assess and treat high concentrations of geosmin, 2-MIB, and nonadienal. Sensory analysis will not be predictive of aqueous or vapor concentration at high levels and may be misleading if used to determine a treatment strategy. Chemical analyses, especially solid phase microextraction technique is very effective in measuring these compounds even at low ng/L levels. The temperature-related Henry's Law constants can be used to assess remediation systems, human exposure and sensory perception by predicting gas phase concentration in a variety of situations, such as showering and washing dishes. / Master of Science

Energy efficiency is currently a hot topic on all regional, national, and global stages. Accurate measurements on how energy is being used over a period of time can improve performance of the drinking water utility substantially and reduce energy consumption. Nevertheless, the drinking water industry does not have a specific benchmarking practice to evaluate its energy performance of the system. Therefore, there are no standards to compare energy use between water utilities that have a variety of system characteristics. The goal of this research is to develop quantitative approach to select energy benchmarking parameters of the water system, so the drinking water utilities can use those parameters to improve their energy efficiency. In addition to a typical benchmarking of drinking water utilities, the energy benchmarking can specifically compare energy efficiency of a utility with other utilities nationwide. The research developed a regression model based on the statistical representation of the energy use and descriptive characteristics of the drinking water utilities data throughout the U.S. Methodologies to eliminate singularity and multicollinearity from collinear survey dataset are discussed. The all possible regressions were chosen as parameters selection methodology to identify a subset of most significant parameters, i.e. system characteristics, that can mathematically correspond to energy use across different utilities. As a result, the energy benchmarking would be able to calculate the predicted total energy use of the system from given system characteristics. / Master of Science

Over 1.7 million Virginians rely on private water systems to supply household water. The heaviest reliance on these systems occurs in rural areas, which are often underserved in terms of financial resources and access to environmental health education. As the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) does not regulate private water systems, it is the sole responsibility of the homeowner to maintain and monitor these systems. Previous limited studies indicate that microbial contamination of drinking water from private wells and springs is far from uncommon, ranging from 10% to 68%, depending on type of organism and geological region. With the exception of one thirty-year old government study on rural water supplies, there have been no documented investigations of links between private system water contamination and household demographic characteristics, making the design of effective public health interventions, very difficult. The goal of the present study is to identify potential associations between concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria (e.g. coliforms, E. coli) in 831 samples collected at the point-of-use in homes with private water supply systems and homeowner-provided demographic data (e.g. homeowner age, household income, education, water quality perception). Household income and the education of the perceived head of household were determined to have an association with bacteria concentrations. However, when a model was developed to evaluate strong associations between total coliform presence and potential predictors, no demographic parameters were deemed significant enough to be included in the final model. Of the 831 samples tested, 349 (42%) of samples tested positive for total coliform and 55 (6.6%) tested positive for E. coli contamination. Chemical and microbial source tracking efforts using fluorometry and qPCR suggested possible E. coli contamination from human septage in 21 cases.  The findings of this research can ultimately aid in determining effective strategies for public health intervention and gain a better understanding of interactions between demographic data and private system water quality. / Master of Science

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of several factors which might alter the analysis of chloroform in aqueous samples by the liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) method developed by Glaze at North Texas State University. A Bendix gas chromatograph (GC) was used. The factors examined were the effect of the ionic strength of the sample on the extraction method, the relative extraction efficiency when three pentane-to-sample ratios were used, the change in the response of the GC to a set of samples during a several hours lengthy analysis, the precision of the data obtained by the analysis procedure, and the precision of analyses of aqueous chloroform standards made from one set of secondary standards. These factors were examined to aid in the development in this laboratory of an analysis program to study the role of algal extracellular metabolites as trihaloomethanes precursors. Ionic strength up to 0.0116 (strengths of algal media) did not affect the results. Few differences in the extent of linearity or extraction efficiency were detected when pentane-to-sample ratios of 1:1, 2:1, or 1:2 were used. The extraction efficiencies of the three ratios deviated 11 percent of their mean, with four values not included. The GC's response to a set of samples analyzed at the beginning and end of a nine-to-twelve hour experiment may change significantly. Standards prepared in pentane did not change during the test period. Four replicate analyses of the same sample were found to be highly precise. / Master of Science

As the bottled water trend continues to rise across the nation, drinking water utilities have become more concerned with ensuring consumer satisfaction of their product. Although public water supplies are safeguarded by regulations, aesthetically unappealing taste-and-odor problems have led consumers to search for alternative water sources, such as bottled water or tap water processed by point-of-use filters. Consequently, taste-and-odor monitoring has become important to the drinking water industry. Because many utilities use chlorine to disinfect the water, chlorine odor often masks other more subtle odors that may eventually cause consumer complaints. As treated water travels from the water treatment plant to the consumer, chlorine residual diminishes and may reveal a water's naturally less-pleasing odors. Consequently, odor monitoring at the water treatment plant, where chlorine concentrations are at a peak, may not identify potential displeasing smells. Proper evaluation of these odor-causing substances requires that the chlorine odor first be eliminated before evaluating any remaining odors. Dechlorinating agents can remove chlorine, but some will produce other unwanted odors or even remove certain odorous compounds. This research describes the efficiency of several of these agents (ascorbic acid, hydrogen peroxide, oxalic acid, sodium nitrite, and sodium thiosulfate) in dechlorinating chlorinated solutions of the earthy-smelling compound geosmin and musty-smelling MIB. Interfering odors in reusable containers pose another problem in drinking water odor analysis. The most common odor-analysis methods (TON and FPA) involve the use of glass flasks, which often either develop chalky odors or have persistent lingering odors from previous evaluations. Furthermore the glass flasks break easily and are difficult to clean. This research also evaluates the suitability of four types of disposable plastic containers for odor analyses. / Master of Science

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