Particulate finger printing of water quality in thedistribution system

摘要

Particles in the distribution system play an important role in the perception of drinkingwater quality, particularly in association with discolouration. In the Netherlands the waterquality in the distribution system is traditionally monitored by turbidity measurements.However, turbidity is hard to quantify as it is a complex function of particle suspension,dependent on many factors. In this paper the value of on-particle counting in determiningthe particulate volume load fed to and in a distribution system will be discussed andanalysed. On-line particle counters have been used at several locations in Dutchdistribution systems to monitor the particulate water quality. Furthermore, particulatematerial in a transportation system was characterized by using pre-concentrationmethods allowing organic and inorganic analysis of the particulate material. By using onlineparticles counters and pre-concentration methods it is possible to identify differentsources of particles in a distribution network. The overall conclusion of the paper is thaton-line particle counters in combination with the pre concentration methods are a veryeffective and useful tool in understanding the water quality changes in the distributionsystem.