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(The following article was originally published in the
AwwaRF newsletter Drinking Water Research, March/April 2004.)
AwwaRF brought together its senior project managers, the director
of research management, and its research applications manager to shed
light
on what’s
around the corner for the drinking water industry.
The panel: Senior Project Manager Bob Allen leads AwwaRF’s High-Quality
Water team. Senior Project Manager Linda Reekie leads both the Environmental
Leadership and Efficient and Customer-Responsive Organization teams. Senior
Project Manager Frank Blaha leads the Infrastructure Reliability team and
is responsible for coordinating security-related research. Research Management
Director Chris Rayburn has overall responsibility for the Foundation’s
research program and is the primary liaison with its Research Advisory
Council. Research Applications Manager Jeff Oxenford currently focuses
on AwwaRF’s knowledge management initiative; he moderated the following
discussion.
Projects related to the emerging trends mentioned in this
article are referenced
below and
linked to a project snapshot, which may provide additional
information and updates.
Jeff Oxenford: Bob, based on your
discussions with AwwaRF’s Research
Advisory Council (RAC) and other groups you work with, what
emerging issues will utilities face in the next few years?
Bob Allen: A lot of water quality programs that utilities have implemented
in the past have focused primarily on meeting regulations. Utilities now
are focusing more on their customers’ needs and interests. Consumers
don’t think in terms of regulations; they think in terms of what
they read in the newspaper, or what they hear from another consumer—whether
it’s true or not. Specifically, in the high-quality water goal area,
we’ll be focusing more on what we call endocrine disruptors and pharmaceutically
active compounds. The public is concerned beyond any current regulations
about what happens when a pharmaceutical compound works its way into the
water system—what, if any, impact will it have on them? That puts
pressure on us to look beyond regulations. What do we need to be concerned
about? What does the public have an interest in knowing about? What can
we do to protect their health and give them the peace of mind that indeed
our industry is on the job here, and we are looking down the road to their
concerns?
Oxenford: Linda, what are the emerging issues that you see utilities facing
in the next few years in your area?
Linda Reekie: In the environmental leadership area, one of the big issues
we’ll be addressing is the limits on natural resources. The earth’s
natural resources, including the water and energy used by drinking water
utilities, are being depleted and the human population and its demand on
those resources continues to grow. Water utilities will need to optimize
the water and energy available to them. This means improving water conservation
and demand-management strategies and technologies. It means continuing
to advance water reuse/reclamation strategies and technologies, and addressing
issues that emerge from using reclaimed or reused water. It also means
advancing desalination technologies that are more energy efficient and
produce less waste. Also, utilities need to optimize energy use in all
areas of their operations—energy use needs to be considered when
making decisions about water conveyance, treatment, and distribution. The
feasibility of using alternative energy sources for utilities needs to
be investigated. Regarding environmental and ecological resources, there’s
a need to evaluate the environmental impact of water utility operations.
This includes waste disposal, the impacts of water use on endangered species,
and the impacts of new technologies such as desalination. Going forward,
water utilities will be exploring the concept of sustainability.
Oxenford: Can you give us an example of an emerging issue relating to
reclaimed water?
Reekie: Research into the effects of using reclaimed water to irrigate
commercial or residential landscaping plants would be useful; these applications
don’t require potable water. This could alleviate substantial demands
on the current supply of drinking water.
Oxenford: How do water treatment plant operations
impact the environment? And what drives that—politics, regulations,
the media?
Reekie: One impact is the
disposal of residuals produced through water treatment processes.
The need to address this is driven not only by regulations,
but also by customer and stakeholder awareness of utility operations, and
the
need for utilities to establish themselves as environmental leaders.
On the other side of the coin, the environment impacts water utilities
as well. Utilities will need to look at the impacts of global climate change,
drought, and seismic events. All of these will continue to pose challenges.
In fact, we’ve just conducted a workshop co-funded with the National
Center for Atmospheric Research to identify impacts that global climate
change may have on water utilities.
Oxenford: Let’s turn to emerging issues
affecting utility infrastructure. Frank?
Frank Blaha: The emerging issues are in distribution system water quality,
online monitoring, and hydraulic modeling. Because of water quality and
security concerns, we need to protect and monitor water quality within
the distribution system and learn how to model the flow of that water.
Distribution systems are on the radar for more regulatory scrutiny. It’s
now clear that distribution systems are large chemical and biological reactors
that can impact water quality. In the age of terrorism, water utilities
will want to have real-time data on the quality of finished water once
it leaves the treatment plant en route to the consumer.
Aging infrastructure will remain a major issue for utilities for the foreseeable
future. Current and future research will focus on assessing the condition
of aging pipe, replacement techniques, and pipe materials. We’ll
be looking at techniques such as remote sensing for pipe location and condition
assessment, and non-intrusive replacement methods such as directional drilling
and pipe bursting. In a number of instances, some of the pipe going into
the ground is not lasting nearly as long as projected and that also drives
infrastructure needs.
In terms of replacement, we’ve done a lot of work on directional
drilling and pipe bursting, which allows pipe replacement from one end
of the buried pipe, without expensive disruption to surface features such
as roads, cultural features, wildlife habitat, or other buried infrastructure
such as fiber optic phone lines. Rehabilitation techniques are being developed
that allow utilities to remotely—that is, end-to-end, rather than
physically unearthing the pipe—clean out a pipeline of questionable
integrity and reline it.
Oxenford: Are these new techniques going to save utilities money and reduce
the expenditure of the billions of dollars currently needed nationwide?
Blaha: Some replacement techniques right now are actually more expensive
than existing cut-and-fill approaches, but they wind up being cost effective
when you factor in the potential cost for disrupting related infrastructure
like sewer, gas, and telephone lines. Horizontal-drilling technology is
a lot cheaper than it was ten years ago because demand and availability
are greater. In the near term, we’ll probably see cost savings in
the area of non-disruptive technologies such as remote sensing for locating
pipes and assessing their conditions. Costs begin to climb when you dig
up an area and your maps are wrong—as they often are—and you
can’t locate your pipes and you possibly damage nearby infrastructure.
We can certainly reduce some of the costs associated with pipe replacement.
Oxenford: Since we’re talking about
raising and spending billions of dollars on infrastructure, what is the
direction of current research
on rate structures?
Reekie: We have a study nearing completion that’s focused on how
various countries develop their rate structures. We also have a project
looking at customer acceptance of service disruption related to infrastructure
replacement. That project is determining the boundaries of what sorts of
disruptions customers will accept, and their willingness to pay, to help
utilities develop acceptable procedures to replace their pipes.
Oxenford: Linda, tell us about emerging issues in your other bailiwick,
efficient and customer-responsive organizations.
Reekie: Some of the issues on our radar screen relate to technological
change, particularly in communications and information management. We’re
talking about energy and water quality management systems, geographic information
systems [GIS], and SCADA [supervisory control and data acquisition] systems.
Those technologies change rapidly and utility managers are bombarded by
the need to make timely decisions to implement systems and keep pace with
evolving technologies. We are helping utilities identify the impacts of
emerging technologies on work processes and personnel. For instance, AwwaRF’s
board of trustees just approved a project that will look at the costs,
benefits, and issues of complete automation of water treatment plants.
Oxenford: How will automation impact water quality and water quality monitoring?
Allen: This is a challenging area. When you talk about automation, one
of the first levels is the ability to understand what’s happening
within the treatment plant—having online systems in place to give
you real-time information on water quality throughout the process. There’s
been a lot of technology in use over the years, but it’s very expensive
to maintain and it works, at best, intermittently for most utilities. One
of the things we’ll be looking at in the future is whether we can
develop technologies that collect real-time information and feed it back
to automated systems that, in turn, can manipulate the process. At the
very least, we’d like operators to have more relevant data in a more
timely manner. Right now we’re just trying to better understand how
monitoring systems work. Technology such as molecular techniques and PCR
[polymerase chain reaction] are monitoring technologies in development
that could give us real-time information at various treatment stages, such
as before and after filtering, post-primary disinfection, after disinfection
in the distribution system, and so on.
Oxenford: How will online monitoring apply to the distribution system?
Is the emphasis on specific chemicals or pathogens, or is the focus on
broad parameters?
Blaha: Right now the focus is on broad indicator
parameters and how those parameters might reflect possible microbial impacts
or leaks
in the distribution system caused by a process or system failure
or by intentional, malevolent acts. So we’re looking at parameters such
as chlorine residual, specific conductivity, pH, total dissolved solids—other
broad indicators that help assess water quality and reflect when changes
take place. In an ideal world, we’d like to have real-time data on
specific contaminants. But cost-effective, reliable monitors
of this sort are some years away. Oxenford: Bob, is there a similar focus in the treatment plant?
Allen: In the treatment plant the focus probably will be more specific,
because online indicator parameters already are in use. With pathogens,
for instance, you’re talking about a very complex world of viruses,
protozoa, and bacteria, all of which look different, travel differently
through a filter, and exhibit different capabilities in resisting various
types of disinfection strategies. Conversely, on the chemical side, we
now look at broader categories. But that’s also a complex world that
ranges from metals to disinfection by-products; they all have different
chemical signatures on monitoring equipment. Ultimately, we’ll have
to look at technologies that are fairly specific to certain types of contaminants
and pathogens. Some of these technologies may be created for use in treatment
plants and later adapted to use in distribution systems.
Oxenford: What is the emerging trend with respect to online monitoring
in the watershed?
Allen: In source water, you’re looking more at particulates and
things that may look like certain types of pathogens of concern, or different
classes of chemicals. You’re not as focused at that point, though
some utilities currently use monitoring technologies in areas where they
have identified specific problems. I think we’ll see that effort
intensify in the future. The key concept in monitoring watersheds is “early
warning,” either for known source water characteristics or for purposeful
acts of contamination.
Oxenford: Earlier, Bob mentioned consumer perceptions of water quality.
Linda, what kind of
insights are we gaining regarding consumers that will impact
utilities in the future?
Reekie: Communicating effectively with consumers and stakeholders is a
real challenge, and it’s especially difficult when you’re discussing,
for instance, a topic—perhaps a compound of potential concern mentioned
in the media—on which we really don’t know the risks or what
the outcome might be. AwwaRF has funded several projects to look at this
issue so we can provide utilities with guidance on how to communicate to
customers in an uncertain environment when you don’t know what the
stakes are and you don’t know what the risks are. The trend is toward
developing overall strategies like communication plans, which include measuring
and managing customer expectations.
Oxenford: On the treatment side, Bob, are trends emerging that will significantly
impact how utilities treat water?
Allen: A number of new technologies have recently emerged—ultraviolet
disinfection, for instance—that have faced implementation hurdles.
So our research in those areas has focused on overcoming those hurdles.
Membrane technologies have been here for some time as well, but their relatively
high cost and the residual waste they generate have slowed their uptake
by industry. So in some cases our research is attempting to answer questions
that can rapidly move newer technologies into standard practice. There
are other, more exotic technologies in our future and we’re scoping
their feasibility at this point.
Oxenford: Frank, how are the advances in treatment technologies going
to impact water quality in distribution systems?
Blaha: With the advent of the Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection By-products
Rule and its emphasis on DBP control, one of the areas demanding additional
research is in the removal of precursors for DBPs. One of the promising
areas for success is the removal of the precursor materials. A great deal
of DBP formation happens post-treatment out in the distribution system,
and by controlling natural organic matter and other water-quality parameters
in the distribution system you can have a great impact on the level of
DBP formation.
Oxenford: We’ve discussed a lot of specific issues here. Chris,
is there an underlying theme to these issues that illuminates AwwaRF’s
research agenda and how it anticipates issues?
Chris Rayburn: I’d like to draw attention to our sense of a developing,
futuristic model of the water industry and how AwwaRF is conducting research
to lead the industry there. We’ll be exploring such business-related
topics as alternative provision of water through point-of-use devices,
point-of-entry devices, and utilities getting into the bottled water business.
We’re exploring alternative regulatory models such as process-based
and risk-based performance standards for utility regulation versus the
contaminant-by-contaminant approach that’s now in use. And we’ve
just funded an update to the 1999 study on strategic assessment of the
future of water utilities, which will look at social, business, and utility
trends to help the water industry identify the most relevant ways to better
control its future.
Through experience and through the Foundation’s processes for getting
input from our subscribers and researchers, we’re identifying major
trends that are going to affect the industry five, ten, 15
years down the road. This is of practical use, not only as a source of
research planning
input for the Foundation, but as a source of strategic thinking
for leaders of the drinking water industry. We have a whole class of research
that
reflects this long-term vision. 
The projects listed below are those mentioned in the roundtable discussion
on emerging research issues. The list is a representative sample of AwwaRF's
projects, and is not a comprehensive list of ongoing research.
Alternative Provision of Water
"
Comparison of Conventional and Unconventional Approaches for
the Provision of Drinking Water," 2761
Automation
"
Costs and Benefits of Complete Water Treatment Plant Automation," 3019
"
Security Measures for Computerized and Automated Systems at
Water and Wastewater Facilities" (partnership with Water Environment
Research Foundation), 3045
Customer/Stakeholder Communications, Service, and Satisfaction
"
Benchmarking Water Utility Customer Relations Best Practices," 2947
"
Customer Attitudes, Behavior, and the Impact of Communications
Efforts," 2613
"
Developing Customer Service Targets Through Assessing Customer
Perspectives," 2690
"
Emergency Communications with Local Government and Communities", 3046 (partnership with Water Environment Research Foundation)
"
Message Management: Effective Communications with Customers
in the Information Age," 2766
"
Proactive Strategies to Evaluate Emerging Drinking Water Contaminants
and Communication Effectively About Them," 2776
"
Stakeholder Perceptions of Utility Role in Environmental Leadership," 2854
"
Strategic Communication Planning Drinking Water Utilities," 2955
"
Understanding the Impact of CCRs and Emerging Issues Communications
on Customers," 2692
"
Water Utility Collaboration with the Health Community to Enhance
Communications on Drinking Water Issues," 2851
Demand-management strategies and technologies, and conservation
"
Water Efficiency Programs for Integrated Water Management," 2935
Desalination
"
A Novel Approach to Seawater Desalination Using Dual-Stage
Nanofiltration Process," 3005
"
Desalination Product Water Recovery and Concentrate Volume
Minimization," 3030
"
Water Quality Implications of Large-Scale Application of Seawater
Desalination," 2841
"
Zero Liquid Discharge and Volume Minimization for Inland Desalination," 3010
Distribution System Renewal
"
Development of Advanced Buried Infrastructure Tracer Wire", 3050 (partnership
with Gas Technology Institute)
"
Guidelines to Minimizing Downtime During Pipe Lining Operations," 2956
"
Multi-Utility Buried Pipes and Appurtenances Location Workshop," 2882
"
Protocols for Assessing Condition and Performance of Water
and Wastewater Assets", 3048 (partnership with Water Environment Research
Foundation and USEPA)
"
Technology for Horizontal Directional Drilling," 2967
"
Testing and Condition Assessment of Joints in Water Distribution
Pipelines," 2689
"
Workshop on Non-Interruptive Condition Assessment Inspection
Devices for Water Transmission Mains," 2871
Distribution System Water Quality
"
Application of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points
for Distribution System Protection," 2856
"
Distribution Water Quality Issues Related to New Development,
or Low Usage," 2954
"
Effect of Aging Water Mains on Water Quality in Distribution
Systems," 2970
"
Predictive Models for Water Quality in Distribution Systems," 2865
"
Model for Quality of Water in Distribution Systems", 3038 (partnership
project with United Kingdom Water Industry Research, Engineering
and Physical Sciences
Research Council, U.K.)
Early Warning Systems
"
Extraction Methods for Early/Real-Time Warning Systems for
Biological Agents – A" 2908
"
Extraction Methods for Early/Real-Time Warning Systems for
Biological Agents – B" 2985
"
Innovative Systems for Early Warning Water Monitoring," 2779
"
Rapid Detection of Bioterrorism Agents in Water Supplies," 2852
Endocrine Disruptors and Pharmaceutically Active Compounds
"
Evaluation of Conventional and Advanced Treatment Processes
to Remove Endocrine Disruptors and Pharmaceutically Active Compounds," 2758
"
Impact of UV and UV-Advanced Oxidation Processes on the Toxicity
of Endocrine-Disrupting Compounds in Water," 2897
"
Innovative DNA Array Technology for Detection of Pharmaceuticals
in Aquatic Environments", 2785B (Result
of Workshop
2785. Partnership
project with Water Reuse Task Force)
"
Occurrence Survey of Pharmaceutically Active Compounds," 2617
"
Pharmaceuticals, Personal Care Products, and Endocrine Disruptors – Occurrence,
Fate and Transport in the Great Lakes Water Supplies and the Effect of
Advanced Treatment Processes on Their Removal," 3071
"
Research Strategy Workshop on Pharmaceuticals and Personal-Care
Products in the Water Cycle," 2972
"
Use of Bioassays and Chemical Measurements to Assess the Removal
of Endocrine-Disrupting Compounds in Water Reclamation Systems", 2785C (Result of Workshop
2785. Partnership
with Water Reuse Task Force)
Energy Management
"
Best Forecasting Tools for Predicting Water Consumption for
Energy Optimization of Pumping", 3066 (partnership with California
Energy Commission)
"
Development of a Utility Energy Index to Assist in Benchmarking
of Energy Management for Water and Wastewater Utilities," 3009
"
Energy Consumption for Potable Water Conveyance and Treatment", 3054 (partnership with California Energy Commission)
"
Estimation of Embedded Energy in Water", 3057 (partnership project
with California Energy Commission)
Environmental Impacts on Utilities
"
Water Milfoil Scoping Study: Impacts on the Water Supply Industry," 3024
"
Water Supply System Performance in the Nisqually Earthquake," 2846
"
Workshop to Identify Impact of Global Climate Change on Water
Supply," 2973
Future of Water Industry
"
Application of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points
for Distribution System Protection," 2856
"Strategic Assessment of the Future of Water Utilities," 3023,
(Update of a past Foundation Project)
"The Value of Water in a Changing Economy," 2855
Monitoring: Distribution System, Treatment Plant, Watershed
"
Data Processing and Analysis for Online Distribution System
Monitoring", 3035 (partnership project with Commonwealth Science and
Industrial Research Organization, Australia)
"
Development of Event-Based Pathogen Monitoring Strategies for
Watersheds," 2671
"
Methodologies for Assessing and Improving Water Quality Sampling
Plans in Drinking Water Distribution Systems," 3017
"
Molecular Methods for Microsporidia Detection," 2901
"
Practical Application of Online Monitoring," 2516
"
Real-Time Online Continuous Monitoring of Cryptosporidium parvum in Drinking Water," 2720
Rate Structures
"
Investigating International Principles and Customer Views on
Utility Rate Structures," 2774
Security (see also Early Warning Systems, Monitoring)
"
Application of DNA Microarray Technology to Simultaneously
Detect and Genotype Isolates of Pathogens in Water," 2896
"
Assessment of Physical Security Technologies for Water and
Wastewater Utilities," 3044
"
Disaster Response, Recovery, and Business Continuity Planning
for Drinking Water Utilities," 2929
"
Encryption Standards for Water Utility SCADA Systems," 2969
"
Lessons Learned from Initial Water Utility Vulnerability Assessments," 2909
"
Point-Of-Use Drinking Water Devices for Assessing Extent of
Microbial Contamination in Distribution Systems," 2986
"
Primer on Security Best Management Practices," 2925
"
Security Implications of Innovative and 'Unconventional' Water
Provision Options," 2924
"
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Decontamination of
Water Infrastructure, 2981
"
Vulnerable Points in Water Distribution Systems," 2931
Service Disruptions
"
Customer Acceptance of Infrastructure Reliability," 2870
Water Resources
"
Decision Process and Trade-off Analysis Model for Supply Rotation
and Planning," 3003
"
Decision Support System for Sustainable Water Supply Planning," 2853
"
Design, Operation, and Maintenance Considerations for Sustainable
Underground Storage Facilities," 3034
"
Potential and Pitfalls for Sustainable Underground Storage
of Recoverable Water", 3043 (partnership project with National Research
Council of the National Science Foundation)
"
Regional Solutions to Developing Water Supplies," 2950
"
The Value of Water in a Changing Economy," 2855
Water recycling/reclamation/ reuse
"
Characterizing Salinity Contributions in Sewer Collection and
Reclaimed Water Distribution Systems to Develop Salinity Management Strategies," 2744
"
Comparison of Nanofiltration and Reverse Osmosis in Terms of
Water Quality and Operations Performance for Treating Recycled Water," 3012
"
Protocol for Developing Water Reuse Criteria with Reference
to Drinking Water Supplies," 2968
"
Water Quality Requirements for Various Industrial and Ecological
Applications of Reclaimed/Recycled Water," 2697
The AwwaRF Web site offers opportunities to provide
feedback on high-priority issues of
the drinking water community.
The underlying principles and
processes of AwwaRF research are detailed in two documents. The
Strategic Research Plan details the research planning strategy used
to develop the research agenda. The Overview
of AwwaRF Research Programs outlines the principles on which Foundation
research is based and details the four research programs—Solicited,
Unsolicited, Tailored Collaboration, and Partnerships.
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