Human Health Impact of Cross-Connections in Non-Potable Reuse Systems
1
Soller Environmental, Inc., 3022 King St., Berkeley, CA 94703, USA
2
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 26 W. Martin Luther King Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45268, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Water 2018, 10(10), 1352; https://doi.org/10.3390/w10101352
Received: 31 August 2018
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Revised: 21 September 2018
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Accepted: 25 September 2018
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Published: 28 September 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health Risks of Alternative Water Sources)
We used quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) to estimate the microbial risks from two contamination pathways in onsite non-potable water systems (ONWS): contamination of potable water by (treated) reclaimed, non-potable water and contamination of reclaimed, non-potable water by wastewater or greywater. A range of system sizes, event durations, fraction of users exposed, and intrusion dilutions were considered (chlorine residual disinfection was not included). The predicted annual microbial infection risk from domestic, non-potable reuse remained below the selected benchmark given isolated, short-duration intrusion (i.e., 5-day) events of reclaimed water in potable water. Whereas, intrusions of wastewater into reclaimed, non-potable water resulted in unacceptable annual risk without large dilutions or pathogen inactivation. We predicted that 1 user out of 10,000 could be exposed to a 5-day contamination event of undiluted wastewater in the reclaimed, non-potable water system each year to meet the annual benchmark risk of 10−4 infections per person per year; whereas, 1 user out of 1000 could be exposed to a 5-day contamination event of undiluted reclaimed water in the potable water each year. Overall, the predicted annual risks support the use of previously derived non-potable reuse treatment requirements for a variety of ONWS sizes and support the prioritization of protective measures to prevent the intrusion of wastewater into domestic ONWS.
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Keywords:
QMRA; cross-connection; onsite; non-potable; reclaimed; greywater; wastewater
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MDPI and ACS Style
Schoen, M.E.; Jahne, M.A.; Garland, J.L. Human Health Impact of Cross-Connections in Non-Potable Reuse Systems. Water 2018, 10, 1352. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10101352
AMA Style
Schoen ME, Jahne MA, Garland JL. Human Health Impact of Cross-Connections in Non-Potable Reuse Systems. Water. 2018; 10(10):1352. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10101352
Chicago/Turabian StyleSchoen, Mary E., Michael A. Jahne, and Jay L. Garland. 2018. "Human Health Impact of Cross-Connections in Non-Potable Reuse Systems" Water 10, no. 10: 1352. https://doi.org/10.3390/w10101352
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