This powerpoint presentation presents a case study of the City of Northampton,
Massachusetts, operating an unfiltered public water supply system using
its surface water reservoirs until January 2008, via a filtration waiver granted by the Massachusetts
Department of Environmental Protection (MADEP) in February 1996. The
waiver was made possible because the City was able to comply with the
Surface Water Treatment Rule criteria for avoiding filtration. However, in
November 1999, the City reported an exceedance of six-month rolling
average coliform concentration in its source water, thus exceeding the
avoidance criteria. Also, distribution system samples indicated an average HAA5 level of 77 ug/L, exceeding the
Stage 1 Disinfection Byproduct Rule HAA5 limit of 60 ug/L. As a result,
MADEP concluded that the system could no longer consistently maintain
the filtration avoidance criteria and could not meet the (then) recently
promulgated Stage 1 DBPR limits. The City was issued an Administrative
Consent Order requiring the construction of the Northampton Water
Treatment Plant. Coincident with the startup of this new WTP, the City
has initiated the IDSE sampling program designed to characterize DBP
concentrations within the distribution system. This paper summarizes
data that demonstrates the financial and water quality impacts of converting
from an unfiltered public water supply to a modern, conventional facility. A before-and-after analysis of the impact on water user charges,
compared to both the previous unfiltered system and to other communities
in Massachusetts, is presented. This paper also serves as a case study
for other utilities either currently operating with a filtration waiver or
possibly seeking a waiver as a result of reclassification to groundwater
under direct influence (GWUDI) of surface water. Includes figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 1.5 MB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 34 |
| Published : | 11/01/2009 |
