Committee report: Disinfection at small systems

In 1998, the Disinfection Systems Committee of AWWA's Water Quality Divisio n surveyed the disinfection practices of smaller US water systems (serving 10,000 or fewer people). Systems using groundwater and those using surface water were surveyed seperately. Of survey respondents, 97 percent of surfac e water systems and 86 percent of groundwater systems provided disinfection , Among surface water systems responding, 94 percent provided filtration. S urvey data suggest that most systems will be able to comply with Stage 1 Di sinfectants/disinfection By-products Rule requirements for total trihalomet hanes, but many may need to better control haloacetic acids. This report su ggests that systems currently using disinfection should begin disinfectant and disinfection by-product monitoring and develop disinfection profiles ah ead of regulatory requirements.