AWWA WQTC71400

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of the pine beetle epidemic in the Colorado Rocky Mountain region on drinking water quality. There is a great potential for increased organic loading within the watershed due to the large volume of dead and decaying pine tree litter in the region. From a drinking water treatment perspective, issues such as increased disinfection byproduct (DBP) formation and algal blooms from increased nutrient loading are of importance. For this study, a range of pine litter samples were collected from Grand Lake, Colorado, and leached for a 24-hour period. Dissolved organic carbon, nitrogen levels, ultraviolet absorbance (UVA) and fluorescence were measured before leachates were filtered and/or coagulated and chlorinated on the bench scale. After chlorination, 48-hour DBP formation including total trihalomethanes (TTHM), haloacetonitriles (HAN) and haloacetic acids (HAA) were measured as well as UVA and fluorescence. Includes 5 references, figures.