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Water Pollution pp 89–102Cite as

Significance and Assessment of the Biological Stability of Drinking Water

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Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC5,volume 5 / 5B))

Abstract

Biologically-stable drinking water does not support the multiplication of micro-organisms in drinking water distribution systems. Such multiplication (regrowth) adversely affects water quality, e.g. by the presence of opportunistic pathogens, coliforms, increased heterotrophic colony counts, development of invertebrates. Disinfection is not effective against biofilms and sediments, which play a key role in regrowth, and cleaning methods are labor intensive. Regrowth therefore should be prevented by strictly limiting the concentration of compounds serving as energy sources for microorganisms. Growth measurements with selected pure bacterial cultures are used for assessing the concentration of easily assimilable organic carbon (AOC) in drinking water. Regrowth of heterotrophic bacteria is very limited in water supplies in the Netherlands at AOC concentrations below 10 µg of acetate-C equivalents per liter. The concentration of biodegradable organic carbon (BDOC), which is assessed as the reduction in DOC concentration in samples incubated with an assemblage of bacteria, did not decrease below the level of 0.2 mg/I in drinking water during distribution in Paris. Biological filtration processes are needed to remove the concentration of growth promoting compounds for obtaining biostable drinking water.

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Abbreviations

ATP:

adenosinetriphosphate (ng/1)

AOC:

assimilable organic carbon (µg acetate C equivalents/1)

b:

die-off rate (h−1)

BDOC:

biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (mg/1)

C:

organic carbon

CFU:

colony forming units

D:

pipe diameter (internal) (m)

DBA:

diluted broth agar

DOC:

dissolved organic carbon (mg/1)

GAC:

granular activated carbon

K s :

substrate saturation constant (µg C/1)

N max :

maximum colony count (CFU/ml)

Re:

Reynolds number (dimensionless)

S :

substrate concentration (µg C/l)

S min :

substrate concentration at which net growth rate equals zero (threshold substrate concentration) (µg C/l)

V :

growth rate (h−1)

V max :

maximum growth rate (h−1)

υ :

flow rate (m/s)

ν′:

kinematic viscosity of water (m2/s)

Y :

bacterial growth yield (CFU/µg C)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. KIWA N.V. Research and Consultancy, P.O. Box 1072, 3430 BB, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands

    D. van der Kooij

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    Jiri Hrubec

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© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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van der Kooij, D. (1995). Significance and Assessment of the Biological Stability of Drinking Water. In: Hrubec, J. (eds) Water Pollution. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 5 / 5B. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-48468-4_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-48468-4_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-14504-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48468-4

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