Performance assessment of small water systems in British Columbia
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Engineering, School of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Pokhrel, Sarin Raj
issued: 2019-04-23T16:57:20Z
issued: 2019
related degree: Master of Applied Science - MASc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Delivery of safe and reliable drinking water to customers is essential to protect public health and maintain high quality of life. In Canada, provinces and territories have set their specific definitions for small water systems (SWSs), which is generally based on the population served and/or number of connections served. In this research, all water systems serving a population less than 5,000 are referred as small. The main objective of this research is to develop a performance assessment framework for British Columbia (BC) SWSs. The framework was developed focusing on the key aspects of drinking water quality management primarily related to the water distribution network (DN). This research involved three distinct steps. First, a questionnaire was prepared and distributed to the local bodies (including regional districts, municipalities, and improvement districts) across BC. The distribution of the questionnaire resulted in responses from 66 SWSs (33%). Based on these responses, a summary of water quality issues and challenges of water systems were highlighted, which could help policy makers understand the current state of SWSs in BC. Turbidity, microbial contamination, high natural organic matters (NOMs) concentration, color, iron and manganese, high water age, low flow rate, disinfection by-product formation, residual chlorine levels, biofilm growth, and old pipes were identified as common water quality issues. Second, performance was assessed through the lens of drinking water quality management using five criteria: (1) treatment and disinfection; (2) water quality issues; (3) operators’ capabilities; (4) infrastructure and funding; and (5) operational characteristics. The results indicated that the overall performance in the regional district water systems were comparatively better, followed by municipalities, and improvement districts. In all three local bodies, performance of SWS were primarily affected by the lack of advanced treatment iv facilities, water q…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/69849
note: PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF SMALL WATER SYSTEMS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA by Sarin Raj Pokhrel Bachelor of Technology in Civil Engineering, Invertis University, 2016 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF APPLIED SCIENCE in The College of Graduate Studies Civil Engineering THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) April 2019 © Sarin Raj Pokhrel, 2019 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance a thesis/ dissertation entitled: PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF SMALL WATER SYSTEMS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA Submitted by Sarin Raj Pokhrel in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Applied Science Dr. Rehan Sadiq, School of Engineering Supervisor, Professor and Associate Dean Dr. Manuel J. Rodriguez, ESAD/ Université Laval Co- Supervisor and Committee Member, Professor Dr. Kasun Hewage, School of Engineering Supervisory Committee Member, Professor Dr. Shahria Alam, School of Engineering Supervisory Committee Member, Professor Dr. Kevin Hanna, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences University Examiner iii Abstract Delivery of safe and reliable drinking water to customers is essential to protect public health and maintain high quality of life. In Canada, provinces and territories have set their specific definitions for small water systems (SWSs), which is generally based on the population served and/or number of connections served. In this research, all water systems serving a population less than 5,000 are referred as small. The main objective of this research is to develop a performance assessment framework for British Columbia (BC) SWSs. The framework was developed focusing on the key aspects of drinking water quality management primarily related to the water distribution network (DN). This research involved three distinct steps. First, a questionnaire was prepared and distributed to the local bodies (including regional district…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2019-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0378400
language: eng
degree discipline: Civil Engineering
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/69849