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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:

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

Original Submission