Drinking water quality variability and management in urban distribution systems

新出现的污染物的发现、对饮用水的更严格的监管以及公众对自来水更高的期望，这些因素促使人们需要更深入地了解市政当局提供的饮用水的质量。保持安全的微生物水质，同时限制与水消毒有关的化学污染物的存在，是饮用水行业面临的较重要挑战之一。这项研究计划的长期目标是提高我们对与水消毒相关的化学污染物的空间和时间发生的了解，并制定策略来改善市政供水系统内的监测。该计划具体涉及获得与水消毒相关的新污染物的新知识，确定解释其发生及其变异性的因素，以及开发决策模型以加强其管理和监测。短期目标是：1)调查初级消毒中与使用臭氧有关的非管制消毒副产物的存在及其变异性；2)研究消毒剂本身从运送到应用于处理厂设施和水库的水的那一刻起与降解有关的副产品的存在；3)开发一种决策工具，以便在空间和时间上优化对管制和非管制DBPs的监测。将获得和开发的知识、数据和工具将有助于提高市政水务公司的决策能力。公用事业公司将更加熟练地实施更好的监测战略，以减少与人口接触自来水中新出现的污染物有关的健康风险。预期效益还将包括在饮用水规划和管理方面的财政投资取得更好的成本/效益结果。这项研究计划将在未来五年内直接为培养一大批博士生和硕士生、本科生和博士后研究员做出贡献。这些高素质人员还将受益于创新的研究基础设施和一套专门用于饮用水研究的尖端仪器，这些仪器最近从加拿大创新基金会(CFI)获得的实验室和现场设备赠款中获得。

The discovery of emerging contaminants, more stringent regulations for drinking water and greater public expectations concerning tap water are factors contributing to the need for more sophisticated knowledge of the quality of drinking water served by municipalities. Maintaining safe microbiological water quality, while limiting the presence of chemical contaminants associated to water disinfection is one of the more important challenges in the drinking water industry. The long term objective of this research program is to improve our knowledge about the spatial and temporal occurrence of chemical contaminants associated with disinfection of water, and develop strategies to improve their monitoring within municipal distribution systems. The program specifically concerns the acquisition of new knowledge about emerging contaminants associated with water disinfection, the identification of factors that explain their occurrence and their variability, and the development of decision-making models to enhance their management and monitoring. The short term objectives are 1) to investigate the presence and the variability of non-regulated disinfection by-products associated with the use of ozone in primary disinfection; 2) to study the presence of by-products associated with the degradation of the disinfectant itself from the moment of delivery to the moment it is applied to water in the treatment plant facility and the reservoirs, and 3) to develop a decision-making tool to optimize the monitoring, in space and time, of regulated and non-regulated DBPs. The knowledge, data and tools to be acquired and developed will serve to improve decision-making capabilities in municipal water utilities. The utilities will become more adept at implementing better surveillance strategies to reduce health risks associated with population exposure to emerging contaminants in tap water. Anticipated benefits will also include the better cost/benefit outcomes of financial investments in the planning and management of drinking water. This research program will contribute directly to the training of a large number of doctoral and master students, undergraduate trainees and postdoctoral fellows over the next five-year period. These high-qualified personnel will also benefit from an innovative research infrastructure and a set of cutting-edge instruments dedicated specifically to drinking water research recently obtained through a grant from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for laboratory and field equipment.