WRA completes IPR risk assessment project

The project set up by the WateReuse Association to look at the risks involved in indirect potable water reuse (IPR) and storage has completed its third and final part and a report has now been published.

Tools to Assess and Understand the Relative Risks of Indirect Potable Reuse and Aquifer Storage & Recovery Projects, Volume 3 (WRF-06-018) is an expert elicitation, a method that uses specific procedures and experts in designated fields to elicit and document the experts’ judgment.

The first part of the project was to predict trends in contaminants of emerging concern with an emphasis on changes in the manufacture and distribution of pharmaceuticals. This formed the basis for reports 1a and 1b in 2011.

For the second task, these compounds were evaluated for their potential for human exposure during IPR by evaluating their persistence after wastewater treatment, soil aquifer treatment, and advanced water treatment using a predictive model. The results are in report 2.

For the third part, Margaret H Nellor, Nellor Environmental Associates Inc and Jeffrey Soller, Soller Environmental, LLC, who also carried out the previous parts, sought expert opinions on a subset of the future contaminants of concern identified in the first two tasks. The results allow for conclusions to be drawn about how important the range of expert opinions is to the overall policy debate, says the association.