AWWA DSS54639

This paper presents the development and application of an "integrated approach" to understanding water quality failures in distribution systems (DS). This includes a number of steps such as: the selection of relevant databases; the collection of databases and their assemblage using homogeneous formats; the geocoding of data to be able to display them on maps; and, the exploration of these databases to identify relationships between water quality failures and all kinds of "events" (both planned and accidental in the DS and at the treatment plant). Hydraulic model outputs are used to define the upstream and downstream sections around a quality failure, and to examine the low flow or old water areas. The application of such an integrated approach is currently being tested in five municipalities in Europe and North America (Montreal, Laval and Moncton, Canada, Egham, United Kingdom; and Caen, France) to evalute its applicability to different utilities, and its performances in explaining water quality failures. Results dealing with the applicability of the approach to different utilities are discussed in this paper. Includes figures.