Public large scale use of chlorine-disinfected water began in the early years of the 20th century and resulted in dramatic reductions in observed rates of dysentery causing diseases, particularly cholera and typhoid infections 1 . Today in the USA 98% of water treatment plants use chlorine-based disinfectants to treat water 2 and similar chlorine disinfection use patterns of water treatment occ...

A methodology is proposed for assessing the risk to produce non-compliant potable water, taking into account the quality of the raw water, as well as characteristics of the treatment unit and different failure modes. Belief functions are used to describe expert knowledge of treatment process efficiency, failure rates, latency times and raw water quality. Evidential reasoning provides mechanisms...

The lack of potable water in arid countries leads to the use of treated sewage water (TSW) for crop growth. Mercury accumulation (up to 500 ng/g) in agricultural soil originating from daily irrigation with TSW was found at two sites fed separately from a hospital sewage plant and an industrial plant. A control site irrigated with potable water ([Hg] <0.01 ng/ml) had much reduced levels in soil ...

According to Dahl (2014), water shortages in parts of the United States are so dire that attitudes toward wastewater reuse, including direct injection into drinking water, are becoming more favorable. He noted 12 locations nationwide that directly or in directly blend highly treated wastewater with potable supplies, with more projects planned. California’s ongoing crisis-level drought has convi...

Quantitative risk assessment for Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts was performed to determine the public health significance of non-potable use of tertiary treated reclaimed water. Seven reclaimed water treatment plants in the southwestern United States participated in this study. The average public exposure to oocysts and cysts was estimated, based on concentrations, recovery efficienc...

Providing safe potable water onboard vessels presents particular challenges and contamination can occur directly from source waters as well as during loading, storage and distribution. Between May and October 2005, 950 potable water samples were collected from 342 ships docking at ports. Comparison with Guidelines found 9% of samples contained coliforms, Escherichia coli or enterococci and 2.8%...

For decades, the city of Windhoek in Namibia succeeded in stretching their limited potable water resources through strict water management, latterly including wastewater reclamation and direct potable reuse. An integrated approach was followed and proper policies were put in place. This was followed up with appropriate legislation, education, policing and technical and financial measures with t...