N. Rodda et al., THE APPLICATION OF RISK ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUES TO MICROBIAL MONITORINGDATA - A SOUTH-AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE, Water science and technology, 27(3-4), 1993, pp. 145-150
Citations number
8
Categorie Soggetti
Water Resources","Environmental Sciences","Engineering, Civil
The feasibility of applying microbial risk assessment techniques in So
uth Africa was evaluated by assessing risks associated with enteric vi
ruses in raw and treated drinking water. Maximum daily risks associate
d with treated drinking water were in the range 2x10(-2) - 7x10(-1). I
f levels of viruses in treated drinking water were approximated from t
hose in raw water by assuming reductions during treatment of 4 log, 5
log and 6 log, maximum daily risk estimates were 4x10(-2) - 4x10(-1),
5x10(-3) - 1x10(-1) and 5x10(-4) - 1x10(-2), respectively. A number of
complicating factors were identified. Detection limits were high and
volumes of water monitored were low. There was no information on viral
pathogen removal during treatment. Application of risk assessment tec
hniques within these limitations clearly showed the volume of water mo
nitored to be the most important factor limiting detection of low risk
levels. The sampling and concentration of large water volumes (at lea
st 100 l) for microbial analysis was identified as an urgent need.