Development of Indicators and Surrogates of Chemical Contaminants and Organic Removal in Wastewater and Water Reuse

The recent detection of a variety of chemicals in municipal wastewater effluent has raised concerns about the potential presence of wastewater-derived chemical contaminants in water produced by indirect potable reuse systems. Regulatory agencies and utilities have struggled with this issue because the wastewater-derived chemicals often are present at extremely low concentrations and because no standardized analytical methods are available. The project identifies surrogate parameters and indicator compounds for wastewater-derived chemical contaminants that might be useful in the assessment of indirect potable reuse systems, identifies and assesses the performance of analytical methods for the chosen surrogates and indicators, and validates the ability of chosen surrogates and indicators to predict the occurrence and removal of wastewater-derived contaminants in indirect potable reuse systems.

Originally funded as WERF project Reuse-03-14.