title: Decision support for water quality management of contaminants of emerging concern.
abstract: Water authorities and drinking water companies are challenged with the question if, where and how to abate contaminants of emerging concern in the urban water cycle. The most effective strategy under given conditions is often unclear to these stakeholders as it requires insight into several aspects of the contaminants such as sources, properties, and mitigation options. Furthermore the various parties in the urban water cycle are not always aware of each other's requirements and priorities. Processes to set priorities and come to agreements are lacking, hampering the articulation and implementation of possible solutions. To support decision makers with this task, a decision support system was developed to serve as a point of departure for getting the relevant stakeholders together and finding common ground. The decision support system was iteratively developed in stages. Stakeholders were interviewed and a decision support system prototype developed. Subsequently, this prototype was evaluated by the stakeholders and adjusted accordingly. The iterative process lead to a final system focused on the management of contaminants of emerging concern within the urban water cycle, from wastewater, surface water and groundwater to drinking water, that suggests mitigation methods beyond technical solutions. Possible wastewater and drinking water treatment techniques in combination with decentralised and non-technical methods were taken into account in an integrated way. The system contains background information on contaminants of emerging concern such as physical/chemical characteristics, toxicity and legislative frameworks, water cycle entrance pathways and a database with associated possible mitigation methods. Monitoring data can be uploaded to assess environmental and human health risks in a specific water system. The developed system was received with great interest by potential users, and implemented in an international water cycle network.
authors.affiliation: TU Delft, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, PO Box 5048, 2600 GA, Delft, The Netherlands. Electronic address: a.fischer@tudelft.nl.
authors.forename: Astrid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: KWR Watercycle Research Institute, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ter Laak
authors.affiliation: Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Antwerpen, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bronders
authors.affiliation: Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Antwerpen, Belgium.
authors.forename: Nele
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Desmet
authors.affiliation: Erftverband, Bergheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Ekkehard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Christoffels
authors.affiliation: KWR Watercycle Research Institute, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands; Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Annemarie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Wezel
authors.affiliation: TU Delft, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, PO Box 5048, 2600 GA, Delft, The Netherlands; Waternet, Strategic Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jan Peter
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: van der Hoek
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry; D018508:Water Purification; D060753:Water Quality
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D014867:Water
keywords: Abatement methods; Contaminants of emerging concern; Drinking water treatment; Urban water cycle; Wastewater treatment; Water quality management