Oxidation Demand and Rate (ODaR) as a sensitive proxy of biostability in drinking water

Water suppliers in northern Europe must ensure safe drinking water against a backdrop of increasing nutrient and organic matter loads in raw waters and higher water temperatures due to anthropogenic activity and climate change.

This is increasing the availability of food sources for microorganisms and their potential utilization rates in drinking water distribution systems.

Organic carbon that can be readily utilised by heterotrophic microorganisms, called assimilable organic carbon (AOC), is a major driver for microbial regrowth and deteriorating drinking water aesthetics. Despite its importance, AOC is rarely quantified due to a general lack of practical and affordable measurement options.

This project will pioneer the development of a novel, high-throughput sensor approach for quantifying labile organic carbon in drinking water from oxygen demand and rate (ODaR).

The new sensor method will be applied to measure bacterial growth potential in drinking water treatment plants and distribution systems, in partnership with six Swedish drinking water producers.

It will further be validated with comparison to prevailing technologies and operationalized to include automated data analysis, thereby ensuring that the new technology is placed directly within the reach of drinking water producers.