Assessment of multiple boiling of potable water utilizing household kettles for consumption

Boiling potable water utilizing 11 household/office electrical kettles for sterilization and aesthetic purposes is common among all age groups. However, the effect of continued boiling of the same water multiple times utilizing household electrical kettles on potable water quality has not been investigated previously; thus, the current study experimentally investigates the effect of reboiling potable water seven times on potable water quality. Kettle H (Dexon) recorded the highest concentration increase in Cl− and of 62.5 and 104%, respectively. In the case of cations, kettles I (Dexon Glass) and H (Dexon) recorded the highest concentration values for Na+ (48.8 ppm) ion in comparison with Ca2+ (31.8 ppm; kettle K (Moulinex)) and Mg2+ (5.8 ppm; kettles I and H). Kettles A (Sharp) and E (Black + Decker) showed a total dissolved solids (TDS) value of 34 ppm and a pH value of 9.05, respectively, after the second boiling that is undesirable as per the permissible standards. It is observed that kettles with a water compartment made of stainless steel displayed values closer to the raw sample after one to two boiling as per anions, pH and TDS analyses. Moulinex, Tokyo, Wansa and Bosch showed the best results in the case of various analyses.

Profitability analysis of dual installations in selected European countries

The most important goal of every water distribution system is to deliver water to the consumers in the demand and time determined by its users. However, not all water usages require the potable water quality. One of the technical solutions enabling water recycling and its reuse is a dual installation system. Dual installations recycle rain wastewater or grey water from bathtubs, showers and sinks and further reuse it for irrigation or toilet flushing. The profitability of a dual installation system is highly dependent on the water price, which tends to vary significantly according to the location. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the profitability of dual installation systems in exemplary hotel building hypothetically located in 10 different European countries. The profitability was determined on the basis of multi-criteria decision analysis performed for two installation variants. The investment was evaluated in terms of technical, economic and environmental aspects. As a result, the selected countries were ranked in order of the most profitable location for dual installation system’s investment.

POTNET: Online Potable Water Quality Monitoring Network for Overhead Water Tanks in Rural Water Supply Schemes in India

Background: Monitoring the quality of potable water is a challenging endeavor due to the significant sources of contaminants, the majority of which are human-induced. Limited access to drinking water owing to acceleration in industrialization, urbanization in consort with growing inhabitants, unprocessed sewage discharge and industrial toxic effluents causes different life-threatening diseases. Manual water quality monitoring techniques vividly aggravate quality deterioration. Considering the significance of the automatic water quality monitoring system, we need an in-situ, realtime, continuous surveillance system to ascertain the quality of potable water. Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) motivated us for a practical water quality monitoring system due to their continuous, real-time, and adaptive infrastructure to provide an early alert in hazardous conditions. Objective: To design and implement an online potable water quality monitoring network for rural water supply schemes in Nagapattinam district, Tamilnadu, India, to sense physiochemical parameters of potable water such as pH, turbidity, conductivity and temperature. Methods: Online POTable water quality monitoring NETwork (POTNET) integrates the reimbursements of WSN and different information and communication technologies for data acquisition, data processing, and data visualization. The core hardware of POTNET contains off-the-shelf sensors (i.e., electrodes), a microcontroller, a data transmission system, a customized buoyage, and a sink node. It senses physiochemical parameters of potable water such as pH, turbidity, conductivity, and temperature in a pre-programmed time interval. Furthermore, it enables cloud storage for gathered information and generates an alert to the preregistered user via mobile phones when there is a deviation of quality measures from threshold values. Results: The system was implemented in three overhead tanks for seven days in order to validate the stability of the buoy and efficiency of energy source, storage, and data transmission. It senses physiochemical parameters of potable water such as pH, turbidity, conductivity, and temperature in its pre-defined interval of 30 minutes. To check the system accuracy, the measured data values from developed sensors were compared with the observed data values using a commercial multiparameter water checker, the Horiba® probe. Measured data were sent through the transceivers to the base station for data logging in a suitable format for ease of data visualization and utilization. Conclusion: Extensive experimental results reveal that our POTNET can be employed for potable water quality surveillance to help consumers or concern authorities to make a sound decision by providing appropriate and real-time data.

Modelling the potable water quality in a distribution network based on the hydraulic conditions

Abnormalities in hydraulic conditions inside a water distribution network are strongly related to the deterioration of potable water quality. Leaking pipes and valves, for instance, cause changes in water hydraulic conditions and may allow the entry of microbes to the distribution system. Flow and pressure shocks can detach soft deposits and biofilms from the pipe surface which is shown among others as the elevated concentrations of bacteria, metals and turbidity in water. On that account, monitoring the hydraulic conditions in a distribution network and utilizing this information in developing a predictive water quality model assists providing a sufficient amount of potable water with an appropriate quality for the consumers use. In this paper, the water quality at the end part of the district metered area is modelled based on only the water flow and pressure measurements along the distribution network. The developed model can be utilized in proactive operation as it is able to show the potable water quality hours in advance before it is discovered at the end part of the distribution network.

Assessing Potable Water Quality and Identifying Areas of Waterborne Diarrheal and Fluorosis Health Risks Using Spatial Interpolation in Peshawar, Pakistan

Waterborne diseases have become one of the major public health concerns worldwide. This study is aimed to investigate and develop spatial distribution mapping of the potable water quality parameters in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan. A total of 108 water samples collected across the entire study area were subjected to physio-chemical and biological analyses. Tested parameters included pH, turbidity, temperature, fluoride concentration levels, and bacterial counts (faecal coliforms). Inverse distance weighting (IDW) interpolation in geographic information systems (GIS) was used for spatial analysis. Test results revealed that 48% of water samples had faecal coliforms count (per 100 mL) greater than World Health Organization (WHO) minimum limits, while 31% of samples had fluoride concentrations in excess of the WHO maximum guide values. Spatial distribution mapping was developed for faecal coliforms count and fluoride ion concentration using ArcGIS to highlight the high-risk settlements in the study area. Results showed that around 20% area under faecal coliforms and approximately 33% area based on fluoride concentrations fall under the need for treatment category. The pH and turbidity were found in compliance with WHO desirable limits. The sanitary inspection score significantly depicted that ineffective multi-barrier approaches consequently deteriorated the water quality at the consumer’s end. Findings from the present study shall be useful to policymakers for adopting necessary remedial measures before it severely affects public health.