Importance of Exposure Model in Estimating Impacts When a Water Distribution System Is Contaminated
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 134, Issue 5
Abstract
The quantity of a contaminant ingested by individuals using tap water drawn from a water distribution system during a contamination event depends on the concentration of the contaminant in the water and the volume of water ingested. If the concentration varies with time, the actual time of exposure affects the quantity ingested. The influence of the timing of exposure and of individual variability in the volume of water ingested on estimated impacts for a contamination event has received limited attention. We examine the significance of ingestion timing and variability in the volume of water ingested by using a number of models for ingestion timing and volume. Contaminant concentrations were obtained from simulations of an actual distribution system for cases involving contaminant injections lasting from 1 to . We find that assumptions about exposure can significantly influence estimated impacts, especially when injection durations are short and impact thresholds are high. The influence of ingestion timing and volume should be considered when assessing impacts for contamination events.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Office of Research and Development funded, managed, and participated in the research described here under an interagency agreement. The views expressed in this paper are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the USEPA. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use. Work at Argonne National Laboratory was sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under interagency agreement through U.S. Department of Energy Contract DOEDE-AC02-06CH11357. All data analysis and preparation of graphics for this paper were done with (R Development Core Team 2007).
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau. (2005). American time use survey user’s guide 2003–2004, Washington, D.C.
EPA. (2000). “Estimated per capita water ingestion in the United States.” EPA-822-00-008, Office of Water, Washington, D.C.
Gleick, P. H. (2006). “Water and terrorism.” Water Policy, 8(6), 481–503.
Grayman, W. M., and Buchberger, S. G. (2006). “Fixture-level human exposure calculation model.” Paper presented at the 8th Annual Water Distribution Systems Analysis Symp., Cincinnati.
Horrigan, M., and Herz, D. (2004). “Planning, designing, and executing the BLS American time-use survey.” Monthly Labor Rev., 127(10), 3–19.
Janke, R., Murray, R., Uber, J., and Taxon, T. (2006). “Comparison of physical sampling and real-time monitoring strategies for designing a contamination warning system in a drinking water distribution system.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 132(4), 310–313.
Khanal, N., Buchberger, S. G., and McKenna, S. A. (2006). “Distribution system contamination events: Exposure, influence, and sensitivity.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 132(4), 283–292.
Murray, R., Uber, J., and Janke, R. (2006). “Model for estimating acute health impacts from consumption of contaminated drinking water.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 132(4), 293–299.
Nilsson, K. A., Buchberger, S. G., and Clark, R. M. (2005). “Simulating exposures to deliberate intrusions into water distribution systems.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 131(3), 228–236.
Propato, M., and Uber, J. G. (2004). “Vulnerability of water distribution systems to pathogen intrusion: How effective is a disinfectant residual?” Environ. Sci. Technol., 38(13), 3713–3722.
R Development Core Team. (2007). “R: A language and environment for statistical computing.” R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, http://www.R-project.org (May 17, 2007 ).
Reschovsky, C. (2004). “Journey to work: 2000.” Census 2000 Brief, C2KBR-33, U.S. Census Bureau, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Washington, D.C.
Rossman, L. A. (2000). “EPANET 2 users manual.” EPA/600/R-00/057, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, Cincinnati.
Williams, B. L., Florez, Y., and Pettygrove, S. (2001). “Inter- and intra-ethnic variation in water intake, contact, and source estimates among Tucson residents: Implications for exposure analysis.” J. Expos. Anal. Environ. Epidemiol., 11(6), 510–521.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 8, 2007
Accepted: Dec 14, 2007
Published online: Sep 1, 2008
Published in print: Sep 2008
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.