Abstract

MORA-RODRIGUEZ, Jesús; RAMOS, Helena M.  and  LOPEZ-JIMENEZ, P. Amparo. Pathogen intrusion events in drinking water distribution systems. Tecnol. cienc. agua [online]. 2013, vol.4, n.3, pp.5-25. ISSN 2007-2422.

Pathogen intrusion is a phenomenon that occurs in drinking water distribution systems, resulting in decreased water quality within the network as a result of fluids (contaminants) around the piping that enter through depression-related defects. Under the least favorable conditions, contamination can cause epidemic diseases due to consumption of contaminated water. Therefore, knowledge about this phenomenon is of primary interest to the management of a network's operations since certain operations - albeit management actions or extraordinary events - can cause the intrusion of volumes of contaminants through physical failures in water distribution networks. This suggests the need to avoid this type of event to whatever extent possible. The objective of this work is to determine the volume of intrusion of contaminants that can be generated by specific events present in water distribution networks. Physical and numerical models were developed to obtain scenarios for intrusion through faults in lines during transient pressure events, considering a porous medium outside the failure area.

Keywords : pathogen intrusion; pipe failures; pressure transients; physical; CFD models.