The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has initiated an effort called the Water
Resources Adaptation Program (WRAP), which is intended to develop tools and techniques that
can assess the impact of global climate change on urban drinking water and wastewater
infrastructure. This paper presents a three step
approach to assessing climate change impacts on water treatment operation and design as an illustration of the research conducted under this project. The first step is the stochastic characterization of source water, the second step is the
use of the USEPA Water Treatment Plant model, and the third step is the application of cost
algorithms to provide a metric that can be used to assess the impact of climate change. The
model was validated using data collected from the Greater Cincinnati Water Works' Richard
Miller water treatment plant (WTP) for the USEPA Information Collection Rule (ICR) database. An
analysis of the water treatment processes in response to assumed perturbations in raw water
quality identified total organic carbon (TOC), pH, and bromide as the three most important parameters affecting
performance of the Miller WTP. The Miller plant was simulated using the USEPA WTP model to
examine the impact of these parameters on selected regulated water quality parameters.
Uncertainty in existing and future WTP flow rates and influent water quality was analyzed to
estimate the risk of violating drinking water maximum contaminant levels (MCLs). Water
quality changes in the Ohio River were projected for 2100 using Monte Carlo simulation. The
WTP simulation model was then used to evaluate the effects of water quality changes on WTP
design and operation. Results indicate that the existing Miller WTP operation can accommodate
most changes in inflow and water quality but might not meet Safe Drinking Water Act MCL
requirements for certain extreme future conditions. However, it was found that the risk of MCL
violations under future conditions could be controlled by enhancing existing WTP design and
operation or by process retrofitting and modification. Algorithms were applied to estimate the
costs associated with these WTP adaptations. Includes 14 references, tables, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 1.1 MB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 42 |
| Published : | 11/01/2009 |
