Ellis, K., Gowdy, C., Jakomis, N. et al. (4 more authors) (2017) Understanding the costs of investigating coliform and E. coli detections during routine drinking water quality monitoring. Urban Water Journal, 15 (2). pp. 101-108. ISSN 1573-062X
Abstract
Bacteriological failure investigations are crucial in the provision of safe, clean drinking water as part of a process of quality assurance and continual improvement. However, the financial implications of investigating coliform and Escherichia coli failures during routine water quality monitoring are poorly understood in the industry. The investigations for 737 coliform and E. coli failures across five UK water companies were analysed in this paper. The principal components of investigation costs were staff hours worked, re-samples collected, transportation, and special investigatory activities related to the sample collection location. The average investigation costs ranged from £575 for a customer tap failure to £4,775 for a water treatment works finished water failure. These costs were compared to predictions for US utilities under the Revised Total Coliform Rule. Improved understanding of the financial and staffing implications of investigating bacteriological failures can be used to budget operational expenditures and justify increased funding for preventive strategies.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 the author(s). Published by Informa UK limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Bacteriological monitoring; water quality; investigation costs |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Civil and Structural Engineering (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL (EPSRC) EP/I029346/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 09 Nov 2017 09:52 |
Last Modified: | 15 Dec 2023 14:39 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/1573062X.2017.1398762 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:123613 |