BE-MUSES: Towards Sustainable Materials Use for Drinking Water Infrastructure

环境中的生物复杂性：材料使用：科学、工程和社会（MUSES）项目解决了与饮用水可持续材料相关的研究问题。在美国，衰落的公共基础设施因腐蚀形成的空洞而损失了10-32%的饮用水资源，而对公共（公用事业）基础设施进行简单维修和更换退化管道的费用估计为每年220亿美元，而对私人（住宅、商业、学校）基础设施的费用几乎是这一数字的两倍。渗漏和水质变化可能发生在铜和塑料管道系统中。这项研究的部分原因是由于观察到水中天然有机物减少导致的铜水系统的腐蚀和针孔泄漏，这是新兴水质要求的意外后果，这被证明是具有高社会影响的技术研究的成果焦点。这项关于饮用水基础设施中材料使用的跨学科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密不可分的，因此根据组织需要，将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)腐蚀材料的美学与分析化学；(3)经济、健康和认知对消费者决策的影响。该项目将建立从宏观到微观的系统退化研究，通过与腐蚀和味道测试的实验调查相联系的经济决策建模，以及消费者偏好的分析模型，以严格的方式整合材料使用和人类需求/感知之间的关系。与韩国和巴西的国际合作，以及与美国环保署、华盛顿郊区卫生委员会、美国陆军、美国人类与健康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保持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.