ACS ES&T water最新文献

Access to safe and reliable water remains a challenge for many Alaska Native communities. Even "served" Alaska Native communities, where at least 55% of homes have in-home piped water, often face service disruptions, unaffordability, and boil water advisories, all of which erode trust in tap water and increase reliance on potentially unsafe alternative sources. However, few studies have investigated how specific experiences with water utility services, including water system aesthetics, service reliability, sensory qualities of tap water, utility communication, and service affordability, influence the user trust in tap water. We administered a survey to 63 residents in a community in the Norton Sound region and used ordered logistic regression to assess the associations between trust in tap water and user experiences. The results showed that trust in tap water is significantly associated with users' satisfaction with the water treatment method. In small and remote systems, this finding demonstrates that trust in tap water depends not only on perceptions about water quality but also on views of treatment practices. Our results suggest that strengthening treatment performance and communication, particularly through transparent, culturally grounded engagement, can enhance both user confidence and community trust in the safety and reliability of tap water.

UV C LEDs are an emerging technology offering wavelength-specific control for microbial inactivation in water and wastewater treatment. As these systems advance, complementary monitoring methods are needed to accurately evaluate the treatment performance and viral persistence in complex effluents. This study developed and evaluated an in-line granular activated carbon (GAC) sampling device designed to concentrate large volumes of wastewater from a full-scale UV C LED reactor. Compared to 1 L grab samples, GAC-concentrated samples recovered significantly higher nucleic acid concentrations (p < 0.001). Viral diversity was also more abundant in GAC-concentrated samples, with 85.7% abundance of Adenoviridae and multiple codetected viral families, whereas grabs had 95% Adenoviridae abundance with minimal diversity of other viral families. Likewise, grab samples were found to be more sensitive to matrix effects compared with the GAC-concentrated samples, with significant negative associations between nucleic acid yield and flow and UV transmittance. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that the in-line GAC approach can overcome the limitations of grab samples, providing a scalable, operationally compatible solution for real-time monitoring of viruses during wastewater treatment.

Nitrification-driven chloramine decay kinetics have largely been unquantified in premise plumbing, which is particularly vulnerable to opportunistic pathogen growth. Here, we carried out complementary experiments in an at-scale premise plumbing rig with mature biofilms (>4 years age) with influent residuals of <0.2, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.5 mg/L as Cl₂ and sterile glass jars, with and without an inoculum containing nitrifying bacteria. Chloramine decay was complete after 8 h of stagnation in all PEX rig pipes (n = 16), tested over a range of diameters (1/4-3/4") and flow rates (0.25-2.2 gpm), with decay rates increasing in situations with higher nitrification rates. The jar experiments revealed that chloramine actually persisted better at higher (37-39 °C) than lower (19-30 °C) temperatures, contrary to standard temperature-adjusted kinetic assumptions, presumably because nitrifiers are inhibited at higher temperatures. Contrary to assumptions made in conventional models, chloramine decay was only effectively modeled as first order in 8/24 cases in the rig experiment (R² > 0.9). The best fit chloramine decay reaction order varied among the rig pipes from 0.88 to 2.74, depending on chloramine dose and exposure time, hydraulics, and modeling method.

To remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from water, this study focused on synthesizing a sawdust-based adsorbent through KMnO₄ oxidation and coating m-phenylenediamine (mPD) onto the sawdust's surface. The resulting sawdust/MnO₂/PmPD was able to remove >90% of nine target PFAS and >80% of GenX spiked at 10 ppb in deionized water. When added to river water samples, the capture of long-chain PFAS remained basically the same. This was in line with the observations that environmental factors, such as a change of pH between 4.0 and 11.0, the presence of natural organic matter in the range of 0 and 100 mg L^-1, and the presence of bicarbonate, nitrate, and chloride, each at 1 mM, did not affect the removal of long-chain PFAS significantly. The low-cost nature of this sorbent was further strengthened by its regenerability and reusability for at least five cycles. To improve the sorption performance, especially for short-chain PFAS, further modification of the sawdust/MnO₂/PmPD will need to be performed based on the revealed mechanisms underlying PFAS capture. Overall, at this stage, the sawdust/MnO₂/PmPD material is ready to be used for removing PFAS from surface water.

This work studied the effect of pH, [O₂], H₂O₂ external addition, chelating agents, common anions, transition metals, and produced toxicity, in the process Cu-(II)/NH₂OH (employing benzoate as a probe). It was observed that (i) acidification by NH₂OH·HCl addition hindered the process significantly as the Cu-(NH₂OH)²⁺ is principally formed at pH = 6-8, (ii) high HCO₃ ^- concentrations (≥1 mM) accelerated the NH₂OH consumption (>95% in 5 min) and pollutant oxidation (k _obs ≈ 2 × 10^-2 min^-1 with initial benzoate concentration 50 μM) due to the buffer effect and the formation of a Fenton-like active species, CuCO_3(aq), (iii) the Mo-(VI)-peroxo species formed by Mo-(VI) reaction with the generated H₂O₂ consumed the NH₂OH, being a strong interference, and (iv) NH₂OH, although mainly decomposed into gaseous products, remained in trace concentrations, exhibiting toxicity. Results with selective scavenger addition, electron paramagnetic resonance, NO_(g) kinetics, and high resolution mass spectrometry suggested that NH₂OH not only acts as a Cu-(II) reducing agent (responsible for starting the Fenton reaction due to the in situ formation of H₂O₂ by Cu-(I)/O₂ reaction), but it also changes the Fenton mechanism of Cu-(I, II)/H₂O₂, suggesting that the formed reactive nitrogen species are responsible for pollutant abatement rather than HO^• or Cu-(III).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires replacement of all lead service lines within 10 years, yet accurately identifying buried lead pipes remains a major challenge. Existing detection methods, such as excavations, electrochemical sensors, or ground-penetrating radar, are often expensive, disruptive, or sensitive to environmental noise. We present a noninvasive approach that combines physics-based finite element analysis (FEA) surrogate modeling with machine learning (ML) to detect lead pipes efficiently. A computationally efficient FEA model was developed to simulate the dynamic behavior of buried copper and lead pipes, incorporating key features such as stop-valve openings to enable realistic loading conditions. Transient dynamic simulations analyzed mechanical responses, specifically pipe acceleration, under varying geometries and loading scenarios. Over 13,000 synthetic observations were generated, with added noise and signal masking to reflect real-world sensor limitations. Seven ML models were trained on these acceleration signals to classify pipe material. K-nearest neighbor (KNN) and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) achieved the highest performance, each reaching 99.9% classification accuracy. This integrated modeling and ML framework offers a scalable, cost-effective method for utilities to locate and replace lead pipes, supporting regulatory compliance while minimizing operational disruptions and resource expenditures.

The August 2023 wildfires in Maui, Hawai'i, damaged or destroyed more than 2200 structures and displaced thousands of people. Residents in the towns of Kula and Lahaina were put under do-not-use drinking-water advisories due to the potential for volatile organic compound (VOC) formation within or leaching from the water distribution system following heat or smoke exposure. This study documents how researchers and community members united to initiate a home tap water sampling and water-quality outreach program in response to the need for information during and after the crisis. The majority of samples were collected in the three months after the wildfire and were screened for 78 VOCs, many of which were fire-related compounds. In total, 395 raw-tap water samples and 191 filtered water samples were analyzed. Fourteen chemicals were detected; however, very few exceedances of drinking water exposure limits were found. A key success of the program was the employment of affected community members as sampling staff, which fostered trust, improved participation, and enhanced communication. The findings offer insights into the impacts of urban wildfires on municipal water systems and the important role university-community collaboration can play in disaster response.

Effect-based methods (EBMs) are bioanalytical tools detecting bioactivity of chemical mixtures on different toxicological end points. EBMs have become increasingly important for water quality assessment and monitoring, particularly in Europe and Australia. To date, their application has not been reported for the assessment of water in Mexico, where tap water is often not consumed as drinking water due to perceived concerns of pollution from the distribution system. In this study, a battery of EBMs was applied to assess the quality of drinking and potable water from Mexico City and surrounding states. The results were compared with international reports and proposed effect-based trigger (EBTs) values. Aryl hydrocarbon receptor bioactivity and androgen receptor (AR) inhibition were detected in tap water and household-filtered water. Estrogen receptor activity was observed in most of the samples, with the highest levels detected in water from the jug container. No bioactivities were detected for AR activity, genotoxicity, or oxidative stress. Although some of the samples were bioactive, the calculated bioanalytical equivalent concentrations (BEQs) were generally below the reported BEQs from other countries and below the proposed EBTs for drinking water. These findings indicate that the tested drinking and potable water sources in the surrounding states of Mexico City are of good quality.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are pervasive pollutants at historically contaminated sites throughout the United States and beyond. Two such sites in Rhode Island, USA, are textile-mill-associated waste retention ponds known to introduce PFAS contamination to the adjacent river, estuary, and eventually the Atlantic Ocean. Here, we thoroughly investigated the retention ponds as a long-term source of PFAS via water passive sampling, sediment coring, and laboratory-derived partitioning coefficients, K _d, with field sediment and water. Additional studies were performed to assess the mobility and estimate the mass fluxes of PFAS from sediment to water. Retention pond 1 was more contaminated (up to 26 ng/L PFOA in water and 74 ng/g PFTrDA in sediment). Derived log K _d values ranged from 1 to 5 for most PFAS, indicating a shift from relative mobility to high storage potential in sediment. Estimated loss fluxes from the sediment varied between 5 and 228 μg m^-2 year^-1, resulting in desorption times from 3 years for FPeSA to >100 years for FOSA. The combined evidence suggests that this textile mill retention pond, if left untreated, constitutes a source of long-term contamination to the river.

There is a pressing need to understand the pathways of textile fibers as anthropogenic pollutants in the environment. Current efforts to understand textile fiber pollution in waterways have relied on surface-sampling methodologies without consideration for environmental heterogeneity. Moreover, how nonplastic textile fibers behave in the environment is not known. Here, for the first time, we experimentally quantify the role that fiber type (cotton, wool, polyester, and acrylic) and riverbed roughness (flat, fine gravel, and coarse gravel) have on the vertical distribution of transported fibers using an experimental, recirculating flume. Analysis of the vertical profile distributions of 18,793 cotton, wool, polyester, and acrylic fibers indicated that bed substrate significantly altered fiber transport pathways, which was consistent across all tested fiber types. Our findings indicate that surface-only sampling will substantially under-record fiber fluxes, but such biases did not differ between any tested fiber types. Our findings provide key insights into fiber/bed interactions and transport pathways and imply that current monitoring methodologies significantly underestimate lotic (and potentially lentic) populations of fibers. We argue that it is crucial to sample for all fiber types, throughout the water column in all riverbed types, to understand fully the scale of riverine textile fiber pollution.