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Pathogen Treatment Guidance and Monitoring Approaches for On-Site Non-Potable Water (2016 Southwest Onsite Wastewater Conference)
Citation:
Garland, J., M. Schoen, B. Zimmerman, S. Keely, N. Brinkman, S. De Long, S. Sharvelle, AND M. Jahne. Pathogen Treatment Guidance and Monitoring Approaches for On-Site Non-Potable Water (2016 Southwest Onsite Wastewater Conference). 2016 Southwest Onsite Wastewater Conference, Laughlin, NV, February 03 - 04, 2016.
Impact/Purpose:
Invited keynote speaker at the Arizona County Directors of Environmental Health Services Association 2016 Southwest Onsite Wastewater Conference, Laughlin, Nevada.
Description:
As the reuse of alternative water sources continues to gain popularity, public utilities and other stakeholders are seeking guidance on pathogen treatment requirements and monitoring approaches for nonpotable use of onsite collected waters. Given that alternative water sources (e.g. graywater, stormwater, and roof runoff) experience lower pathogen loadings than municipal wastewater and that nonpotable uses (e.g. toilet flushing and irrigataion) minimize direct contact with the water, it is likely that lower treatment requirements may be necessary to protect public health. However, science‐based pathogen reduction targets for nonpotable reuse are currently lacking, forcing system operators and regulatory agencies to use conservatively high‐level treatment for all water sources and reuse applications. In addition, specific requirements for onsite collected waters, which experience greater variability in pathogen density than municipal wastewater due to scaling and dilution effects, have not been considered. This talk will present risk‐based pathogen log‐reduction requirements for various types of onsite collected wastewaters used for a range of nonpotable uses. In addition, approaches for monitoring treatment performance for pathogen removal will be discussed, emphasizing the limitation of traditional fecal indicators and the potential use of more commonly occurring and abundant micro-organisms as process indicators.
