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

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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.