Biological stability in drinking water: a regression analysis of influencing factors

Article type: Research Article

Authors: LU, Wei | ZHANG, Xiao-jian

Affiliations: Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Note: [] Corresponding author. [email protected]

Abstract: Some parameters, such as assimilable organic carbon (AOC), chloramine residual, water temperature, and water residence time, were measured in drinking water from distribution systems in a northern city of China. The measurement results illustrate that when chloramine residual is more than 0.3 mg/L or AOC content is below 50 μg/L, the biological stability of drinking water can be controlled. Both chloramine residual and AOC have a good relationship with Heterotrophic Plate Counts (HPC)(log value), the correlation coefficient was −0.64 and 0.33, respectively. By regression analysis of the survey data, a statistical equation is presented and it is concluded that disinfectant residual exerts the strongest influence on bacterial growth and AOC is a suitable index to assess the biological stability in the drinking water.

Keywords: AOC, biological stability, HPC, residual chloramines, regression analysis

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 395-398, 2005