Security of Public Water Supplies

252 Pages·2000·13.88 MB·English

by  Rolf A. Deininger (auth.), R. A. Deininger, P. Literathy, J. Bartram (eds.)

Security of Public Water Supplies
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2. Environmental Security - Vol. 66
Security of Public Water
Supplies
edited by
R. A. Deininger
Department of Environmental and Industrial Health,
School of Public Health,
The University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, MI, U.SA
P. Literathy
Institute for Water Pollution Control,
Water Resources Research Centre (VITUKI Pic.),
Budapest, Hungary
and
J. Bartram
WHO, European Centre for Environment and Health,
Rome,ltaly
r....
"Springe r-Science+Business Media, B.v.
Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on
Security of Public Water Supplies
Tihany, Hungary
30 May - 4 June 1998
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-0-7923-6122-0 ISBN 978-94-011-4241-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-4241-0
Printed an acid-free paper
AII Rights Reserved
© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2000
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 2000
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright
owner.
CONTENTS
Foreword ........................................................................................................................ vii
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ ix
Indicators of Drinking Water Quality in the Americas .............................................. 1
RolfA . Deininger
Future Perspectives and International Cooperation ................................................ .11
Jamie Bartram
International Instrument for Prevention, Control and Reduction of Water
Related Diseases .............................................................................................. 29
Alan Pinter and Rainer Enderlein
Upgrading Public Water Supplies ............................................................................... 35
Hartmut Bartel
Risk Management to Provide Safe Drinking Water. ................................................ .51
Robert M. Clark
Early Warning Systems on the Rhine and Elbe in Germany ................................... 71
Rolf-Dieter Wilken, Thomas Knepper and Klaus Haberer
Early Warning System for Chemical Spills on the Ohio River ................................ 91
Walter M. Grayman, Alan H. Vicory, Jr. and Richard M. Males
Early Warning System on the Danube River. .......................................................... 101
George Pinter
Integrating Physical, Chemical and Biological Monitoring. ................................... 10 7
Mariel/e Thomas
Trace Metals in Drinking Water: Sources and EtTects .......................................... 115
Jerome O. Nriagu and Myoung-Jin Kim
Prevention of Lead in Drinking Water. .................................................................... 133
RolfA . Deininger and Elmer V. Bernstam
Organic MicropoUutants in Drinking Water Resources ........................................ 139
Peter Literathy
Non-polar Micropollutants in Water Resources ..................................................... 161
Igor Liska
vi
Microbial Quality Issues for Drinking Water. ......................................................... 171
Edwin E. Geldrelch
Microbiological Safety of Water Supplies ................................................................ 185
Mihaly Kadar
Impad of the Distribution System on Water Quality: A UK Penpedive. ........... 197
Ian Walker
MaintaiDing a Disinfectant Residual in the Distribution System. .......................... 209
RolfA . Deininger
Privatization of Water SuppUes. ................................................................................ 219
Christian Chefdeville
Pharmaceuticals in Sewage,Surface and DrinkiDg Water in Germany. ............... 227
Rolf-Dieter Wilken, Thomas A. Ternes, and Thomas Heberer
Sabotage of Public Water Supply Systems ............................................................... 241
RolfA . Deininger and Peter G. Meier
Subject Index. .............................................................................................................. 249
FOREWORD
"The best of all things is water"
-Pindar 460 B.C.
The provision of secure drinking water for its citizens is an aim of every government,
and is a priority item to all the NATO and CP countries. The quantity of water in most
of these countries is usually adequate, but the quality in many cases is not. With the
development of new analytical methods, one suddenly finds new substances of human
origin in drinking water. Also, new microorganisms and their toxins pass through the
conventional treatment plants to show up in the finished water. What aU of this means
to public health is not quite clear at the moment, but it seems that increased vigilance is
necessary to provide safe drinking water to all citizens.
The NATO Advanced Research Workshop was organized to focus on five major
areas of concern:
• Inorganic contaminants, focusing on arsenic and copper
• Organic contaminants, focusing on petroleum products, and insecticides and
pesticides
• Biological/bacteriological problems in raw water, finished water, and in the
distribution system
• River water watch and surveillance systems
• The role of research, the economics of privatization, the support of
international organizations
This volume presents the papers that were delivered at the workshop over a period
of four and one-half days. The workshop was attended by over 40 scientists,
government officials, and academics from 20 NATO and CP countries. For space
limitations not aU the material presented at the workshop is contained in this volume,
and a companion edition has the unedited presentations by participants. This edition is
available from the editors.
In this volume, the first paper by Deininger reviews the present situation regarding
attempts to describe the status and trend of the quality of public water supplies. It shows
the glaring deficiencies in these reports in both the Americas and the OECD countries.
The next two papers by Bartram, Pinter, and Enderlein report on the efforts of
international organizations such as the WHO and the UN ECE to help the individual
countries to improve the quality of the public water supplies, and share the information
on how to achieve it.
The paper by Bartel describes the unique situation in Germany after reunification
when it became obvious that many of the small water utilities in the eastern states did
not produce water that met the European standards. A large data collection effort was
required to determine the exact situation. The cost of upgrading the water supplies was
significant and can serve as a guide what may face other countries too.
The next paper by Clark describes in great detail the organizational structure of the
US EPA and the large research effort to determine the effect of individual parameters of
water quality on human health. This research drives the regulatory processes and
determines the setting of water quality standards.
vii
Vlll
Many of the water treatment plants on large rivers like the Rhine, Danube, and the
Ohio River face the problem of spills of pollutants. How to monitor for these spills, and
how to respond to them, is the subject of four papers by Wilken et al, Grayman et al,
Pinter, and Thomas.
Trace metals in drinking water pose unique problems and are described in two
papers by Nriagu and Deininger. The two metals highlighted in the papers are arsenic
and lead.
The source and fate of organic micropollutants of polar and non-polar nature is
discussed in two papers by Literathy and Liska.
The microbiological quality of the drinking water has always been of concern, and
the two papers by Geldreich and Kadar show that while great strides have been made in
improving the biological water quality, there are new organisms appearing, making
vigilance necessary.
In the past, the focus of water quality control was at the treatment plant reservoir. It
was generally assumed that when the finished water is biologically safe, then the
consumer will also receive safe water. However, it has now become clear that the
distribution system with its reservoirs and pipes plays a major role in the deterioration
of water quality, and two papers by Walker and Deininger describe the problems and
possible solutions.
In times of economic difficulties, the water utilities have turned to privatization in
the hope of providing safe drinking water at a lower cost. Chefd eville describes the
steps and procedures necessary for a successful privatization of the public water
supplies.
The improvements of the analytical methods in water quality analysis allow a
detection of compounds that were previously not detectable. The groundbreaking work
by Heberer showed the presence of pharmaceuticals in the drinking water in Berlin, and
Wilken and others found the same in many of the water supplies of Germany. Their
public health significance is not known at the moment, but their presence is surely
unsettling.
The final paper of the volume by Deininger and Meier describes some of the
measures that public utilities can undertake to improve the security of their systems
against sabotage and vandalism.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For the local organization and execution of the workshop in May, 1998 at Lake Balaton
in Tihany Hungary, much credit is due to Dr. Peter Literathy and his able staff at
VITUKI, the research institute for water resources in Budapest. He selected a
wonderful spot in Hungary, quiet and peaceful, which was very conducive to great
conversation and exchange of information among the participants.
The editors are also indebted to the personnel of Kluwer Academic Publishers for
their assistance in the preparation of the manuscript. At the University of Michigan,
two people spent many hours on the task of assembling and editing the manuscript.
Arvil Ancheta, a graduate student in the school formatted, edited and organized the
individual papers. Stephanie Sommerville did the copy-editing of the sometimes
difficult papers, and we gratefully appreciate her fine work.
We hope that the workshop and this pUblication have and will, in the future,
facilitate the exchange of information among the scientists of NATO and CP countries.
We appreciate that the Scientific and Environmental Affairs Division of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization had endorsed our proposal, and had provided the
necessary financial support to make it a successful undertaking. We are also indebted
to Professor L. Veiga da Cunha, director of NATO's Priority Area in Environmental
Security for his support and helpful comments.
ix
INDICATORS OF DRINKING WATER QUALITY IN THE
AMERICAS
ROLF A. DEININGER
School ofP ublic Health
The University ofM ichigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA
INTRODUCTION
To describe the status and trend of the drinking water quality in the Americas, one
needs indicators which describe the present status, the trend, and the rate of progress or
the lack thereof; when one tries to summarize the status, one is hampered by the lack of
statistics. This is nothing new. Before the turn of the century, Lord Kelvin lamented:
"When you can measure what you are speaking
about and express it in numbers, you know something
about it; but when you can not measure it, when you can
not express it in numbers, your knowledge is of meager and
unsatisfactory kind."
Lord Kelvin, 1889
Of course, today, we have many standards for compounds found in drinking water, and
their effect on human health. In the United States, the Environmental Protection
Agency has promulgated many standards, and is in the process of updating them and
adding new compounds to them. This is best described in the paper by Clark in these
proceedings. For Latin America and the Caribbean, the Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have published
standards. In Europe, the ECE has done likewise. However, when one wants to
compare and determine which supplies meet the standards, the data are sparse and
incomplete.
LATIN AMERICA AND mE CARIBBEAN
One of the most recent publications by PAHOIWHO describes in summary the status of
drinking water in Latin America and the Caribbean (pan-American Health
R.A. Deininger et al. (eds.), Security ofP ublic Water Supplies, 1-10.
© 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers.