Biofiltration and Membrane Technology for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience in Drinking Water Treatment

加拿大大部分处理过的饮用水来自地表水（即河流、湖泊和溪流）。地表水特别容易受到气候变化影响的影响，气候变化导致极端天气事件增加，北方气候中水质普遍退化。这些天气事件包括高降水事件，导致污染物排放增加到我们的地表水来源。污染物包括增加的溶解和悬浮固体、微生物、有机和无机化学品以及与雨水混合的稀释原始污水源。在英国和美国的高降雨事件后，胃肠道爆发明显增加；同样的情况也会发生在加拿大。此外，精算师气候指数表明，与之前30年的基线数据相比，自1995年左右以来，美国和加拿大的极端天气事件有所增加，没有减弱的迹象（精算师气候指数，2017年）。因此，很明显，气候变化引起的极端天气事件将持续到未来。水处理厂的设计和运行方法必须有助于减轻不可预测的水质挑战。***生物过滤和膜处理技术是饮用水处理中两种潜在的适应方法，可以帮助应对日益不可预测的原水水质挑战。该研究项目探讨了生物过滤和膜技术以弹性、可持续的方式生产安全饮用水的能力，以减轻和适应饮用水中气候变化的挑战，同时考虑到加拿大的具体挑战，如水温的巨大变化。本研究项目旨在(1)开发新的支持介质，研究改进的操作方案，以改善生物过滤中有机碳污染物的去除，从而提高我们对气候变化导致的饮用水公用事业中不同水质条件的适应能力；(2)探索先进的新型陶瓷和聚合物膜清洁方案，以确保水质处理的长期、稳健运行。总体而言，本研究将探索生物过滤和膜系统以弹性、可持续的方式生产安全饮用水的能力，以减轻和适应饮用水中气候变化的挑战。*****

The majority of treated drinking water in Canada comes from surface water sources (i.e. rivers, lakes and streams). Surface water sources are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts that have resulted in increased extreme weather events and a general degradation of water quality in boreal climates. These weather events include high precipitation episodes that lead to increased pollutant releases into our surface water sources. Pollutants include increased dissolved and suspended solids, microorganisms, organic and inorganic chemicals and dilute raw sewage sources that mix with rain water. Gastro intestinal outbreaks have been clearly shown to increase after high rainfall precipitation events in both the UK and the US; the same can be expected in Canada. Further, the Actuaries Climate Index demonstrates that extreme weather events in both the US and Canada have increased since approximately 1995, compared to base line data in the 30 years prior, with no sign of abatement (Actuaries Climate Index, 2017). Thus, it is clear that climate change induced extreme weather events will continue into the future. Water treatment plants must be designed and operated in methods that help mitigate unpredictable water quality challenges.***Biofiltration and membrane treatment technology are two potential adaptation methods in drinking water treatment to help counter increasingly unpredictable raw water quality challenges. This research program explores the capacity of biofiltration and membrane technology to produce safe drinking water in a resilient, sustainable manner to mitigate and adapt to the challenges of climate change in drinking water while accounting for specific challenges in Canada such as large variations in water temperature. This research program aims to (1) develop novel support media and investigate improved operational protocols to improve organic carbon pollutant removal in biofiltration that improves our resilience to varying water quality conditions at drinking water utilities due to climate change and (2) explore advanced novel cleaning protocols with ceramic and polymeric membranes to ensure long-term, robust operations for water quality treatment. Overall, this research will explore the capacity of biofiltration and membrane systems to produce safe drinking water in a resilient, sustainable manner to mitigate and adapt to the challenges of climate change in drinking water.*****