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from the still-better-than-Flint-Michigan dept.
Water quality could change in buildings closed down during COVID-19 pandemic, engineers say:
While restaurants, gyms, schools and other buildings are closed indefinitely to prevent the spread of COVID-19, water left sitting in pipes could change in quality.
It's possible that water left sitting for long periods of time could contain excessive amounts of heavy metals and pathogens concentrated in pipes nationwide, say researchers who have begun a field study on the impact of a pandemic shutdown on buildings.
Stagnant water would not be a problem just for buildings recently closed down. Water could have been bad for months or years in old hospital buildings that cities are reopening to accommodate a potential influx of COVID-19 patients.
"We don't design buildings to be shut down for months. This study focuses on the consequences and could help building owners make sure that their buildings are safe and operational when occupants return," said Andrew Whelton, a Purdue associate professor of civil engineering and environmental and ecological engineering.
[...] Whelton and other researchers across the U.S. have begun drafting recommendations compiled by this effort in a paper pending publication. Collaborating with Purdue in this effort are experts from leading plumbing safety scientists and engineers from Virginia Tech, Legionella Risk Management Inc., Arizona State University, the University of Memphis, the University of Iowa, Northeastern University, and Polytechnique Montréal in Canada.
[...] But since no study has been conducted on widespread, long-term building closures, knowledge gaps remain on how to best maintain stable water quality during a shutdown. The field study led by Whelton's team would be a start to filling these gaps.
"We're not going to have all the science done at the end of this study. But part of what we're trying to do is put energy toward helping others develop guidelines so that they can at least go in and start recovering their buildings," Whelton said.
[...] In addition to observing water left sitting still in buildings, the team will study how stagnation affects water softeners and water heaters. In the lab, the researchers will let the water sit still for long periods of time, watching for chemical and microbiological changes.
"There isn't really any evidence on what prolonged stagnation does to these devices," Whelton said.
Journal Information:
Caitlin Proctor, et al. Considerations for Large Building Water Quality after Extended Stagnation, OSFPreprints (2020). DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/qvj3b
(Score: 4, Insightful) by looorg on Wednesday April 15 2020, @12:40PM (3 children)
Doesn't most buildings have some kind of janitorial staff? Go around and flush the toilets and turn the taps once in a while. If they are empty there shouldn't be any issues of infection etc. Perfect social distancing job.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Immerman on Wednesday April 15 2020, @01:52PM (2 children)
Indeed. Flushing the pipes is one of the first things you want to do when moving in to a building that has sat unused for a long while. Even if it's been winterized (no water sitting in pipes), there's still corrosion, outgassing, microbial buildup, etc. delivering nasty tastes. Quite possibly a bunch of mineral scale that has loosened up in the prolonged absence of water as well, so don't be surprised if you need to clean the aerators and filters (and possibly even cutoff valves) on any taps that have them.
I suppose it's worth mentioning that you should do such a thing for all those who have never dealt with it before, but why present it as some sort of unsolved problem that hasn't been faced before?
Also, why would you shut down a building for an indeterminate (but likely prolonged) time without draining the pipes, water heaters, etc. first? That's just basic maintenance, and insurance against any unexpected freezing without wasting money to keep the heaters running.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Wednesday April 15 2020, @02:43PM (1 child)
Because there is no money to pay anyone, since everyone else is out of a job.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday April 15 2020, @07:18PM
Hardly - for the most part everyone is out of a job because there's nothing for them to do to earn the boss money, not because the boss is broke.
Besides, someone was paid to lock the doors. Draining the plumbing isn't exactly a major endeavor, and saves you money in the long term (those heating bills for a start, plus any water damages due to a pipe that started leaking when nobody was around to notice it )