AWWA WQTC64094

Drinking water utilities continue to be driven toward complex decisions about competing water quality objectives in the context of rapidly changing rules and increasingly rigorous customer expectations. Moreover, these decisions routinely include regulatory compliance actions which themselves create the potential for conflicts and unintended consequences. Conflicts and unintended consequences can be related to new technology implementation, residuals management and wastewater discharges, as well as aesthetics such as taste, odor and color. The Authors are currently engaged in several full-scale projects involving implementation of new technology and optimization of existing treatment with the objective of balancing multiple water quality goals. Under AwwaRF Project 3115, a team of engineers and scientists are currently developing a decision tool to assist utilities in evaluating appropriate technology choices to comply with multiple and/or conflicting water quality goals. The specific objectives of Project 3115 are: identify and prioritize potential conflicts and technology solutions faced by U.S. water utilities; develop a decision framework to assist utilities in making more informed decisions and understanding potential simultaneous compliance conflicts; and, develop an electronic decision tool that will allow utilities to navigate these multiple water quality planning objectives. As part of AwwaRF 3115, a diverse group of 24 drinking water utilities, regulatory agencies and engineering consultants were assembled to review and prioritize potential simultaneous compliance conflicts (and other unintended consequences), and to identify those technologies and operational responses most appropriate for addressing these issues. During 2006, a broad range of technology and response issues and concerns were distilled and prioritized for inclusion in the decision tool framework. The work thus far on AwwaRF 3115 has identified several arrays of utility-driven priorities and their implications for long-range water quality planning. The results also serve to assist water systems in understanding, anticipating, and avoiding unintended consequences of treatment or operational modifications which could impact distribution system water quality. Includes 5 references, tables, figure.