Drinking water quality: management at the source and in the distribution system

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The development of strategies to ensure a safe drinking water requires a better understanding of the variations, in time and space, of water quality at the source, during the treatment process and within the distribution system. Improving the understanding of water quality variability requires the monitoring of relevant contaminants and the development of tools explaining and predicting their occurrence. This research program will generate new knowledge, databases and tools for improving water quality management at the source and within the distribution system. The program will focus on the occurrence of emerging disinfection by-products (DBPs), on the modelling of non-regulated chlorinated DBPs and on monitoring and modelling of drinking water source quality. The program is comprised of three complementary research projects. The first project will investigate the spatio-temporal occurrence of emerging DBPs from the treatment plant to the extremities of the distribution system. The emerging DBPs under study will be those with a high toxicological relevance. The second project aims at developing methodologies for modelling the variability of haloacetic acids (HAAs), the more prevalent group of DBPs after trihalomethanes. Models for HAAs will be based on information about currently monitored water quality parameters, operational, hydraulic and structural characteristics of the distribution system and indicators for the residence time of water and the presence of pipe biofilm. Finally, the third project is intended to develop early warning tools for the temporal variability of water quality at source, in order to prevent drinking water contamination events. The knowledge, methodologies and tools to be acquired and developed will serve to improve decision-making processes by water utility managers, authorities responsible for environmental management/regulation and health officers. The completion of this program will be possible thanks to the fully equipped laboratory and field material for drinking water found at Université Laval. The research program will contribute to the training of various Masters and doctoral students as well as post-doctoral fellows, research assistants and undergraduates.