This thesis focuses on lead related drinking water quality issues in general and on hydraulic transient induced lead pipe corrosion events in water distribution systems in particular. Corrosion is a complex phenomenon, and particularly in water distribution systems, when its already challenging electro-chemical processes are influenced by numerous other physical and chemical factors. Lead pipe corrosion can itself be influenced by both the hydraulic transients and water chemistry events. To understand the relationship among hydraulic, chemical and material processes, an existing numerical 1-D transient-corrosion model for iron-pipe based systems is modified and extended to apply for systems having lead-pipes connected in series. The coupled hydraulic transient and advection-dispersion-reaction model with improved data handling facilities is applied for analyzing the transient induced lead pipe corrosion behaviors in the system for a range of options and establishes interrelationships among the parameters.

This thesis focuses on lead related drinking water quality issues in general and on hydraulic transient induced lead pipe corrosion events in water distribution systems in particular. Corrosion is a complex phenomenon, and particularly in water distribution systems, when its already challenging electro-chemical processes are influenced by numerous other physical and chemical factors. Lead pipe corrosion can itself be influenced by both the hydraulic transients and water chemistry events. To understand the relationship among hydraulic, chemical and material processes, an existing numerical 1-D transient-corrosion model for iron-pipe based systems is modified and extended to apply for systems having lead-pipes connected in series. The coupled hydraulic transient and advection-dispersion-reaction model with improved data handling facilities is applied for analyzing the transient induced lead pipe corrosion behaviors in the system for a range of options and establishes interrelationships among the parameters.