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The US Environmental ProtectionAgency's (USEPA's) new arsenic (As)standard of 10 ug/L is expected toaffect 5% of community water systems(CWSs), but 77% of these CWSs serve1,500 or fewer customers. Point-of-use(POU) treatment, recently approved byUSEPA for permanently complying withdrinking water standards, may be an economicalalternative to As removal by centralizedtreatment for these smaller CWSs. Lackof guidance from USEPA regarding design ofPOU treatment programs and how to ensurecompliance with federal regulations hasresulted in few CWSs implementing POUtreatment programs. Thus, the costs andlogistical difficulties involved are not welldocumented.This study describes three (base-case,high-cost, and low-cost) POU scenarios totreat drinking water to meet the 10-ug/L Asstandard and calculates the per-householdcost for each one. These per-householdcosts were compared with those of the least expensivecentralized treatment methods forremoving As presented in published studies.The authors found that POU treatmentcosts varied significantly with the monitoringand maintenance schedule adopted bythe CWS; annual As monitoring of eachPOU device coupled with frequent maintenanceand filter replacement increased thePOU costs to the point at which centralizedtreatment was more cost-effective. The publishedcosts of centralized treatment, however,also varied significantly, and thesediscrepancies may mask the economicadvantage of POU treatment.The results of this study point out thedifficulties in designing and running a POUtreatment program. For a POU program tobe successful, CWSs must get cooperationfrom their customers. This may discourageCWSs from implementing POU treatment,even when centralized treatment is not feasible.In these cases, the authors suggest providingbottled water to customers as a temporarycompliance measure. Includes 24 references, tables, figures.

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Edition: Vol. 94 - No. 3 Published: 03/01/2002 Number of Pages: 8 File Size: 1 file , 360 KB