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Benzene Diffusion and Partitioning in Contaminated Drinking Water Pipes under Stagnant Conditions
Citation:
Haupert, L., L. Garcia-Bakarich, N. Sojda, D. Schupp, AND M. Magnuson. Benzene Diffusion and Partitioning in Contaminated Drinking Water Pipes under Stagnant Conditions. ACS ES&T Water. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 3(8):2247-2254, (2023). https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.3c00040
Impact/Purpose:
Benzene contamination in drinking water systems affected by wildfires is a problem of emerging concern. Polyethylene pipes used in service lines and premise plumbing are vulnerable to permeation by benzene and can potentially cause challenges in sampling and remediation of contaminated systems. However, the kinetics and equilibria of benzene uptake and release from pipes of differing polyethylene types and manufacturers are not well studied, leading to additional uncertainty when interpreting sampling data and selecting remediation options. This work addresses this data gap by providing diffusion and partitioning data for benzene and several varieties of polyethylene pipe, including field samples from water distribution systems. All polyethylene pipes studied exhibited similar partitioning behavior during benzene uptake and release, but some differences in the kinetics were observed among pipes. However, these differences were of minor practical importance in the pipe contamination scenario examined in this work. Results of this study can be used in conjunction with diffusion modeling to inform remediation decisions for benzene-contaminated, polyethylene service lines and premise plumbing.
Description:
The effort with FY19 funding was for further experimentation and refinement of a numerical model with benzene, in support of contamination resulting for California wildfires. This year's request (and corresponding change in FY) is aimed at unstudied organics. This work is also partially supported by a Region 9 RARE grant. Flushing is a frequently proposed solution for plastic water pipe decontamination, and is often the first approach attempted because it is readily available. Based on a previous year product, this product is designed to enable the prediction of flushing efficacy based on a minimal list of experimental parameters--especially for “unstudied” compounds, meaning ones for which little or no experimental data is available in the literature. This efficacy is related to the time which flushing is applied, so this product will provide water utilities and response professionals with capability to estimate the amount of time required to flush to achieve a site specific decontamination goal for site specific contaminants. This can help establish flushing as a viable option or a waste of effort and time--which is vital to restoring water service to impacted areas.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Benzene Diffusion and Partitioning in Contaminated Drinking Water Pipes under Stagnant Conditions
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