Full Description

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has initiated an effort called the WaterResources Adaptation Program (WRAP), which is intended to develop tools and techniques thatcan assess the impact of global climate change on urban drinking water and wastewaterinfrastructure. This paper presents a three stepapproach to assessing climate change impacts on water treatment operation and design as an illustration of the research conducted under this project. The first step is the stochastic characterization of source water, the second step is theuse of the USEPA Water Treatment Plant model, and the third step is the application of costalgorithms to provide a metric that can be used to assess the impact of climate change. Themodel was validated using data collected from the Greater Cincinnati Water Works' RichardMiller water treatment plant (WTP) for the USEPA Information Collection Rule (ICR) database. Ananalysis of the water treatment processes in response to assumed perturbations in raw waterquality identified total organic carbon (TOC), pH, and bromide as the three most important parameters affectingperformance of the Miller WTP. The Miller plant was simulated using the USEPA WTP model toexamine the impact of these parameters on selected regulated water quality parameters.Uncertainty in existing and future WTP flow rates and influent water quality was analyzed toestimate the risk of violating drinking water maximum contaminant levels (MCLs). Waterquality changes in the Ohio River were projected for 2100 using Monte Carlo simulation. TheWTP simulation model was then used to evaluate the effects of water quality changes on WTPdesign and operation. Results indicate that the existing Miller WTP operation can accommodatemost changes in inflow and water quality but might not meet Safe Drinking Water Act MCLrequirements for certain extreme future conditions. However, it was found that the risk of MCLviolations under future conditions could be controlled by enhancing existing WTP design andoperation or by process retrofitting and modification. Algorithms were applied to estimate thecosts associated with these WTP adaptations. Includes 14 references, tables, figures.

Product Details

Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 11/01/2009 Number of Pages: 42File Size: 1 file , 1.1 MB