Drivers of Microbial Risk for Direct Potable Reuse and de Facto Reuse Treatment Schemes: The Impacts of Source Water Quality and Blending

Rabia M. Chaudhry, Kerry A. Hamilton, Charles N. Haas and Kara L. Nelson
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Rabia M. Chaudhry: Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Kerry A. Hamilton: Drexel University Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Charles N. Haas: Drexel University Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Kara L. Nelson: Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-20

Abstract: Although reclaimed water for potable applications has many potential benefits, it poses concerns for chemical and microbial risks to consumers. We present a quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) Monte Carlo framework to compare a de facto water reuse scenario (treated wastewater-impacted surface water) with four hypothetical Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) scenarios for Norovirus, Cryptosporidium , and Salmonella . Consumer microbial risks of surface source water quality (impacted by 0–100% treated wastewater effluent) were assessed. Additionally, we assessed risks for different blending ratios (0–100% surface water blended into advanced-treated DPR water) when source surface water consisted of 50% wastewater effluent. De facto reuse risks exceeded the yearly 10 −4 infections risk benchmark while all modeled DPR risks were significantly lower. Contamination with 1% or more wastewater effluent in the source water, and blending 1% or more wastewater-impacted surface water into the advanced-treated DPR water drove the risk closer to the 10 −4 benchmark. We demonstrate that de facto reuse by itself, or as an input into DPR, drives microbial risks more so than the advanced-treated DPR water. When applied using location-specific inputs, this framework can contribute to project design and public awareness campaigns to build legitimacy for DPR.

Keywords: reclaimed water; direct potable reuse; quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA); norovirus; Salmonella; Cryptosporidium; blending (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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