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Drinking Water Corrosion Control and POU/POE: Where Are the Boundaries?
Citation:
Schock, M. Drinking Water Corrosion Control and POU/POE: Where Are the Boundaries? Presented at WQA Aquatech USA, Indianapolis, IN, April 02 - 05, 2013.
Impact/Purpose:
To present requested information on corrosion control treatment to the technical conference of the Water Quality Association
Description:
Protection of public health often has to go beyond regulatory limits, because the health threats do not necessarily arise under the "legal control" of the public water system. Residential and building plumbing can be a very significant contamination source under typical usage conditions, which in the case of schools and day care centers, affects the most vulnerable population to inorganic contamination events. Various chemical treatment strategies are available to public water systems, which become increasingly difficult and costly to implement down at the premise/building scale level. Aside from lead contamination prevention, existing plumbing codes and standards provide limited health protection, and in any cases depend heavily on local plumbing inspectors to enforce. While central water treatment can be highly effective in remediating or preventing corrosion problems, there are still operational and site situations that are beyond the ability of central water treatment to control. In those situations, there is an important role to play for premise treatment systems, particularly POU devices. This presentation will first review copper and lead corrosion chemistry and what chemical water treatments can be most promising to minimize corrosion and metal release in premises. It will then discuss the limitations of central water treatment in real-world building and residential situations. It will conclude with suggestions of where POU devices and improvements in plumbing codes and standards all need to play a critical role in forming a supplementary level of health protection to meet drinking water quality and health goals, consistent with other state and local regulatory requirements.
