The breakeven point and global costs associated with the use of dispersed treatment units within
a water distribution system to manage network-derived water quality degradation were
investigated. Disinfection byproduct (DBP) formation was used as a representative water quality
degradation parameter. A basic DBP formation model was used to predict exposure within a
hypothetical water utility service population. The costs of upgrading centralized treatment
facilities to meet DBP water quality standards were estimated and then apportioned over the
fraction of residential service population receiving water degraded below required quality levels
to estimate the breakeven costs for the alternative distributed treatment approach. Breakeven
costs for a 10-connection treatment unit were calculated for a range of service populations. A
sensitivity analysis of the impacts of various network parameters on breakeven costs revealed the
existence of singularities - sudden shifts in optimal technology selection - resulting from
relatively small variations in required treatment levels. Includes 16 references, table, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 440 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 18 |
| Published : | 06/01/2006 |
