Remote assessment of operational drinking water distribution networks

Drinking water distribution systems are responsible for the safe transportation of potable water to the consumer and thus play an essential role in public health. Along main distribution pipes, excessive microbial growth may occur in the water as bacteria, archaeal and protozoa are released from bio...

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Main Author: Cai, Jiawei
Other Authors: Stefan Wuertz
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/150223
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1502232021-05-25T01:15:10Z Remote assessment of operational drinking water distribution networks Cai, Jiawei Stefan Wuertz School of Civil and Environmental Engineering SWuertz@ntu.edu.sg Engineering::Environmental engineering Drinking water distribution systems are responsible for the safe transportation of potable water to the consumer and thus play an essential role in public health. Along main distribution pipes, excessive microbial growth may occur in the water as bacteria, archaeal and protozoa are released from biofilms. This is undesirable as it could cause microbiologically induced pipe corrosion or become a public health concern when opportunistic pathogens are involved. Therefore, ensuring good biological stability of the bulk water is of utmost importance. In this study, samples were taking from two large-scale and operational testbeds (Testbed A and B) which differ in drinking water storage and distribution. Sampling was conducted three times over the course of four months directly at the water mains. Flow cytometry was used to quantify live and total cell counts and to differentiate bacteria populations based on their morphology and relative genome content. Physico-chemical water quality parameters such as conductivity, temperature and residual monochloramine concentration in the bulk water samples were measured and correlated with microbial community diversity. Results indicate that all categories of bulk water from both testbeds fulfil Singapore’s drinking water requirements but that bulk water obtained from Testbed A shows significantly lower quality in terms of monochloramine and nitrogen species. Flow cytometry results also indicate significantly higher live and total bacteria counts on Testbed A when compared to both city bulk water and samples taken at Testbed B. The same could be observed for their specific microbial community composition. More iterations of sampling are recommended to increase confidence in these results and genotypic analysis is suggested to gain deeper insights into the composition of microbial communities on the species or family level. Bachelor of Engineering (Environmental Engineering) 2021-05-25T01:15:10Z 2021-05-25T01:15:10Z 2021 Final Year Project (FYP) Cai, J. (2021). Remote assessment of operational drinking water distribution networks. Final Year Project (FYP), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/150223 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/150223 en application/pdf Nanyang Technological University
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Engineering::Environmental engineering
spellingShingle Engineering::Environmental engineering
Cai, Jiawei
Remote assessment of operational drinking water distribution networks
description Drinking water distribution systems are responsible for the safe transportation of potable water to the consumer and thus play an essential role in public health. Along main distribution pipes, excessive microbial growth may occur in the water as bacteria, archaeal and protozoa are released from biofilms. This is undesirable as it could cause microbiologically induced pipe corrosion or become a public health concern when opportunistic pathogens are involved. Therefore, ensuring good biological stability of the bulk water is of utmost importance. In this study, samples were taking from two large-scale and operational testbeds (Testbed A and B) which differ in drinking water storage and distribution. Sampling was conducted three times over the course of four months directly at the water mains. Flow cytometry was used to quantify live and total cell counts and to differentiate bacteria populations based on their morphology and relative genome content. Physico-chemical water quality parameters such as conductivity, temperature and residual monochloramine concentration in the bulk water samples were measured and correlated with microbial community diversity. Results indicate that all categories of bulk water from both testbeds fulfil Singapore’s drinking water requirements but that bulk water obtained from Testbed A shows significantly lower quality in terms of monochloramine and nitrogen species. Flow cytometry results also indicate significantly higher live and total bacteria counts on Testbed A when compared to both city bulk water and samples taken at Testbed B. The same could be observed for their specific microbial community composition. More iterations of sampling are recommended to increase confidence in these results and genotypic analysis is suggested to gain deeper insights into the composition of microbial communities on the species or family level.
author2 Stefan Wuertz
author_facet Stefan Wuertz
Cai, Jiawei
format Final Year Project
author Cai, Jiawei
author_sort Cai, Jiawei
title Remote assessment of operational drinking water distribution networks
title_short Remote assessment of operational drinking water distribution networks
title_full Remote assessment of operational drinking water distribution networks
title_fullStr Remote assessment of operational drinking water distribution networks
title_full_unstemmed Remote assessment of operational drinking water distribution networks
title_sort remote assessment of operational drinking water distribution networks
publisher Nanyang Technological University
publishDate 2021
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/150223
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