Effects of flushing techniques on water quality at extremity with low chlorine residuals in drinking water distribution systems

Several complaints from consumers on red or turbid waters were often filed at the same places although various efforts were made to improve water quality in the drinking water plant. The red water problems were occurred due to corrosion of main water pipe, especially at extremity. The low concentrations of chlorine indicating poor water quality were detected at the problematic location. To solve the poor water quality at the extremity, flushing techniques, i.e., conventional flushing, unidirectional flushing, and continuous flushing, were recently practiced. In this study, effects of conventional flushing on water qualities were examined by comparing turbidity and residual chlorine before and after flushing. In addition, more detailed analyses on water qualities at the tap water were conducted to learn a reduction pattern during flushing. Five items from geographic information system of water distribution were used to obtain a relationship with water quality, washing duration or amounts of washing water. The flushing was effective to meet the National Drinking Water Quality Standard with simple and relatively short time operation. The key operational parameter in flushing was amounts of washing water which should be estimated based on water quality of the consumer's tap water. The positive relationship between the residual chlorine and pipe length implied that detention time in the pipeline was the main cause of the complaints. More experiments on effectiveness of flushing are needed to determine reasonable strategies of flushing.