BE- MUSES: Towards Sustainable Materials for Drinking Water Infrastructure

这一合作项目是“环境材料用途：科学、工程和社会”（Muses）项目，旨在解决与可持续饮用水材料相关的研究问题。在美国，由于腐蚀形成的孔洞，日益衰落的公共基础设施损失了10-32%的饮用水资源，并且对于公共（公用事业）基础设施，简单地维修和更换退化管道的成本估计为每年220亿美元，而对于私人（住宅、商业、学校）基础设施，这一成本几乎是其两倍。铜和塑料管道系统可能发生泄漏和水质变化。这项调查的部分原因是由于水中天然有机物的减少而导致铜水系统中的腐蚀和针孔泄漏，这是新兴水质要求的意外后果，证明了具有高度社会影响的技术研究的富有成效的焦点。 这项跨学科的饮用水基础设施材料使用研究汇集了来自七个学科的研究人员和学生：经济学，食品和感官科学，社区卫生，土木工程，环境工程，微生物学和材料工程。由于饮用水基础设施中材料使用的所有问题都是不可分割地交织在一起的，因此将根据组织的必要性开展三个阶段的工作，包括：（1）材料降解和水质的生物化学;（2）腐蚀材料的美学和分析化学;（3）消费者决策中的经济学，健康和感知。该项目将建立从宏观到微观研究水平的系统退化，通过与腐蚀和味道测试的实验研究以及消费者偏好的分析模型相关的经济决策建模，以严格的方式整合材料使用和人类需求/感知。与韩国和巴西的国际合作，以及美国环保局、华盛顿郊区卫生理事会、美国陆军、美国人类和卫生服务部和几个消费者团体的参与，将提供传播研究和教育公众维护可持续饮用水基础设施的更广泛意义的方法

This collaborative Biocomplexity in the Environment Materials Use: Science, Engineering and Society (MUSES) project addresses research issues associated with sustainable materials for drinking water. In the United States, the declining public infrastructure loses 10-32% of potable water resource to holes formed by corrosion, and the cost to simply repair and replace degraded pipes is estimated at $22 billion per year for the public (utility) infrastructure and nearly twice that for private (residential, commercial, school) infrastructures. Leakage and changes in water quality can occur in copper and plastic plumbing systems. This investigation is driven in part by observations of corrosion and pinhole leakage in copper water systems due to reduced natural organic matter in the water, an unintended consequence of emerging water quality requirements that is proving a fruitful focus for technical research with high social impact. This interdisciplinary study of materials use in drinking water infrastructure brings together researchers and students from seven disciplines: economics, food and sensory science, community health, civil engineering, environmental engineering, microbiology, and materials engineering. Because all problems with materials use in drinking water infrastructure are inextricably interwoven, three phases of work will be conducted on the basis of organizational necessity including: (1) biochemistry of materials degradation and water quality; (2) aesthetics and analytical chemistry of corroded materials; and (3) economics, health and perception in consumer decision-making. This project will establish the degradation of systems from the macro to the micros level of study, integrating between materials use and human needs / perceptions in a rigorous fashion through the modeling of economic decision-making that is tied to the experimental investigation of corrosion and taste testing, as well as the analytical models of consumer preference. International collaborations with South Korea and Brazil, and the involvement with USEPA, Washington Suburban Sanitation council, US Army, US Department of Human and Heath Services, and several consumer groups will provide methods of disseminating the research and educating the public to the broader significance of maintaining a sustainable potable water infrastructure