Repositori URV

Author, as appears in the article.: Gunnarsdottir MJ, Gardarsson SM, Figueras MJ, Puigdomènech C, Juárez R, Saucedo G, Arnedo MJ, Santos R, Monteiro S, Avery L, Pagaling E, Allan R, Abel C, Eglitis J, Hambsch B, Hügler M, Rajkovic A, Smigic N, Udovicki B, Albrechtsen HJ, López-Avilés A, Hunter P

Department: Ciències Mèdiques Bàsiques

URV's Author/s: Figueras Salvat, María Josefa

Keywords: Contamination Drinking water safety France Risk factors in water supply Utilities Water safety plan performance

Abstract: Drinking water quality has been regulated in most European countries for nearly two decades by the drinking water directive 98/83/EC. The directive is now under revision with the goal of meeting stricter demands for safe water for all citizens, as safe water has been recognized as a human right by the United Nations. An important change to the directive is the implementation of a risk-based approach in all regulated water supplies. The European Union Framework Seventh Programme Aquavalens project has developed several new detection technologies for pathogens and indicators and tested them in water supplies in seven European countries. One of the tasks of the project was to evaluate the impact of these new techniques on water safety and on water safety management. Data were collected on risk factors to water safety for five large supplies in Denmark, Germany, Spain and the UK, and for fifteen small water supplies in Scotland, Portugal and Serbia, via a questionnaire aiming to ascertain risk factors and the stage of implementation of Water Safety Plans, and via site-specific surveys known as Sanitary Site Inspection. Samples were collected from the water supplies from all stages of water production to delivery. Pathogens were detected in around 23% of the 470 samples tested. Fecal contamination was high in raw water and even in treated water at the small supplies. Old infrastructure was considered a challenge at all the water supplies. The results showed that some of the technique, if implemented as part of the water safety management, can detect rapidly the most common waterborne pathogens and fecal pollution indicators and therefore have a great early warning potential; can improve water safety for the consumer; can validate whether mitigation methods are working as intended; and can confirm the quality of the water at source and at the tap.Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Thematic Areas: Astronomia / física Biodiversidade Biotecnología Ciência da computação Ciência de alimentos Ciências agrárias i Ciências ambientais Ciências biológicas i Ciências biológicas ii Ciências biológicas iii Direito Enfermagem Engenharias i Engenharias ii Engenharias iii Ensino Environmental chemistry Environmental engineering Environmental sciences Farmacia Geociências Geografía Historia Interdisciplinar Matemática / probabilidade e estatística Materiais Medicina i Medicina ii Medicina iii Medicina veterinaria Nutrição Odontología Pollution Química Saúde coletiva Waste management and disposal Zootecnia / recursos pesqueiros

licence for use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/

Author's mail: mariajose.figueras@urv.cat

ISSN: 00489697

Author identifier: 0000-0002-2268-8980

Record's date: 2023-02-22

Papper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

Link to the original source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969719341622?via%3Dihub

Papper original source: Science Of The Total Environment. 698 (134185): 134185-134185

APA: Gunnarsdottir MJ, Gardarsson SM, Figueras MJ, Puigdomènech C, Juárez R, Saucedo G, Arnedo MJ, Santos R, Monteiro S, Avery L, Pagaling E, Allan R, Abel (2020). Water safety plan enhancements with improved drinking water quality detection techniques. Science Of The Total Environment, 698(134185), 134185-134185. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134185

Licence document URL: https://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/

Article's DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134185

Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Journal publication year: 2020

Publication Type: Journal Publications