BQ4 - How do we achieve 100% compliance with drinking water standards (at point of use) by 2050?
Drinking water quality is of key importance to public health, and the provision of safe drinking water has been recognised as one of the greatest technological and public health advances of the last century. The current system of delivering safe water to consumers in the UK is based upon significant investment in infrastructure and performs at an excellent standard at a very low cost. However, the future challenges of climate change, energy efficiency, population growth, and an aging infrastructure mean that the traditional ways of providing safe water may need to change. This is described below, and you can download the whole thing as a PDF below. It is important to know that the route map may change as the programme develops.
If we want to achieve 100% compliance with drinking water standards (at point of use) by 2050 we need considerable research and development in this area. We have created a strategic research programme help us achieve this.
To support the development of this programme a report was commissioned to identify the prioritised research needs. Each drinking water contaminant or issue was allocated a score for knowledge and risk to drinking water quality, based on literature reviews and workshop discussions. This process enabled contaminants that had research gaps, but which contributed a low risk, to be removed as a research need at this time.
Once we understood our research needs, we produced a route map – this is a plan as to how we will answer our Big Question.
RESEARCH Outcomes
Customers are satisfied with their drinking water View key benefits and filter projects by this outcome key benefits We can measure taste and odour quantitatively We understand the occurrence of taste and odour |
An appropriate balance of risks for substances of concern. their public health impact and mitigation View key benefits and filter projects by this outcome key benefits Catchment Interventions can be implemented as part of the treatment process We can identify emerging contaminants of concern We can implement cost effective means to minimise Disinfection By-products We can implement cost effective measures for removal We can implement processes to remove microplastics We have accurate information about Disinfection By-products and their pre-cursors We understand the impacts of microplastics on drinking water quality We understand the use of Catchment Interventions as a treatment option |
Ownership and responsibility for water quality is clear and all play their part in its protection View key benefits and filter projects by this outcome key benefits We can determine the affordable & acceptable solutions for Lead compliance We understand the chemistry that controls the solubility of lead |
Regulate the Right Things View key benefits and filter projects by this outcome key benefits We can inactivate viruses in distributed water cost effectively and sustainable We can inactivate viruses when using sustainable means We have an adaptive system that responds to change We have the right tools to deliver the right solutions |
Zero Chemical & Low Energy Treatment Processes View key benefits and filter projects by this outcome key benefits We can identify the biochemical pathways to resolve treatment needs We can implement sustainable solutions |
See All Projects
Projects
| BQ - Achieving 100% compliance with drinking water standards at point of use by 2050? Taste and Odour: Methods of Detection. Project Status - Project Completed
No Further Information Available. |
| Water Quality Events Database - continuation of service. Project Status - Project Commenced
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| BQ How do we achieve 100% compliance with drinking water standards by 2050? Risk assessment of CIP data with respect to implications for drinking water sources. Project Status - Project Completed
To determine whether any emerging contaminants, measured through the Chemical Investigation Programme, pose a potential risk to the quality of drinking water supplies. Problem The Chemical Investigation Programme (CIP) Phase 1 &2 has monitored a large number of chemicals that may be entering the aquatic environment from our wastewater treatment processes. This data, however, has not been looked at in terms of the potential impacts on drinking water quality. Impact We currently do not know the impact that these chemicals have on raw water quality for sources located downstream of a waste water treatment works. Project This project is an enabler for future work to meet the outcome “An appropriate balance of risk with regards to substances of concern, their public health impact, and mitigation”. It is the first project in a series that will allow the Industry to demonstrate to its customers and other stakeholders, including regulators, that it keeps the upstream risks it faces under review as data becomes available. Subsequent projects will look in more detail on issues such as treatability i.e. determine if the disinfection process for water containing these chemicals give rise to unwanted by-products of health concern or cause taste and odour issues. |
| BQ4-B03b Controlling water chemistry to improve drinking water quality and minimising brominated disinfection by-products . Project Status - Project Commenced
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| Understanding DBP formation: Interpretation of laboratory experiments to operational conditions. Project Status - Project Completed Category - Drinking Water Quality & Health
No Further Information Available. |
| BQ - Achieving 100% compliance with drinking water standards at point of use by 2050? Protecting water quality in the home (domestic fixtures & fittings). Project Status - Project Completed
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| BQ How do we achieve 100% compliance with drinking water standards by 2050? Better understanding of the chemistry of the control of lead. Project Status - Project Completed
This project will address key issues in order to meet the outcome “Ownership and responsibility for water quality is clear and all part their part in its protection”. The project will improve our understanding of the complex chemistry which underlies the control of lead solubility. Recent developments in analytical instrumentation open up a number of avenues to enhance the industry's understanding of the surface chemistry which facilitates compliance or causes failure. |
| Developing a testing standard for nickel plated water fittings (BQ4-C3a). Project Status - Project Commenced
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| BQ04-D04-Achieving biologically stable / low AOC water in the UK. Project Status - Project Commenced
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| Prevalence of viruses and somatic coliphage in UK waters - method development and data gathering (BQ4-D1). Project Status - Project Commenced
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| Real time monitoring of bacteria downstream of WTWs. Project Status - Project Completed Category - Drinking Water Quality & Health No Further Information Available. |
| BQ - Achieving 100% compliance with drinking water standards at point of use by 2050? - Phase 2 - Intensifying Natural Processes. Project Status - Project Completed Category - Drinking Water Quality & Health
No Further Information Available. |
| Maximising the safe return of recovered process water (BQ4-E4). Project Status - Project Completed
If we are to halve our abstractions by 2050 water treatment plant efficiencies will need to be improved. At present industry best practice dictates that wash water return flow is maintained at less than 10 % by volume and with a turbidity of less than 10 NTU. However, with the improved treatment technology over the past two decades are these limits still a reflection of the risk of cryptosporidium oocyst breakthrough or can these limits be risk based on treatment technologies and incoming water quality. |
RESEARCH IMPACT - CASE STUDIES
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