Issue 11, 2021

A case study on tap water quality in large buildings recommissioned after extended closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Extensive building closures due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic resulted in long-term water stagnation within the plumbing of large buildings. This study examined water chemical quality deterioration in ten large buildings after prolonged stagnation caused by the closure of a university campus in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Volume-based and constant-duration flushing protocols were implemented to replace stagnant water with fresh drinking water. The effectiveness of the developed water flushing protocols was examined by monitoring the disinfectant residuals, heavy metal concentrations and temperature for water samples collected from the buildings' point of entry (POE) and select water fixtures. More than 14 m3 of water were flushed in all ten large buildings. The results demonstrated a significantly greater average total chlorine residual concentration in POE water samples collected after flushing (1.1 mg L−1) compared to the stagnant condition (0.6 mg L−1). For water samples collected from fixtures during the extended stagnation, chlorine was absent in 71% of samples from academic buildings and 69% of samples from athletic buildings. The effectiveness of flushing practices is underscored by increasing the median total chlorine concentration from <0.1 to 1.0 mg L−1 in academic buildings and from <0.1 to 0.75 mg L−1 in athletic buildings. Furthermore, the concentrations of Pb, Zn, and Cu had decreased following the water flushing, but the concentration of Fe had increased in some buildings. This study could be beneficial to prepare for prolonged water stagnation events including but not limited to pandemics.

Graphical abstract: A case study on tap water quality in large buildings recommissioned after extended closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Jūn. 2021
Accepted
10 Aug. 2021
First published
18 Aug. 2021

Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2021,7, 1996-2009

Author version available

A case study on tap water quality in large buildings recommissioned after extended closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic

M. Salehi, D. DeSimone, K. Aghilinasrollahabadi and T. Ahamed, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2021, 7, 1996 DOI: 10.1039/D1EW00428J

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements