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: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday April 15 2020, @11:05AM (14 children)
Flush the systems and use the water as grey-water (there is a lot of grey-water irrigation for city landscaping here). Or pipe it into the drinking fountains at the parks where the Blacks hang out. They sure don't give a fuck and won't taste the difference anyway.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @11:10AM
You went from "seems reasonable" to "holy fucking shit, batman" real quick there sonny
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @11:20AM (7 children)
Have you always been a white supremacist imbecile or has COVID-19 isolation tipped you over the edge?
On one story you make racist remarks about Jews, this one 'blacks'.
Fuck off neo-nazi cunt.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @11:25AM
Your comment is offensive to neo-nazis, women and the transgendered.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @11:42AM (5 children)
His comment on blacks gets moderated Insightful and I get downmodded for calling out his racist bullshit?
Do you guys burn crosses together?
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @12:13PM
Your comment followed the same pattern: you started out insightful but then you made the cardinal mistake of using the c-word. Do you not understand that the c-word is offensive to women and the transgendered? Fucking white male privileged bastard.
(Score: -1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @01:57PM (1 child)
Nope. Just get mugged by the same people.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @06:01PM
Donald J. Trump has ripped you off a hell of a lot more than any black guy ever has.
It's not fashionable around here to point that out, though.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @06:16PM (1 child)
Some people are still learning that this site is infested with alt-right trolls. Their goal is to shove racism down your throat as a "free speech" protest with the bonus of "pwning the libs."
To what degree they are just assholes and/or bigots is known only to themselves. There is also complicity from at least one site admin along with abuse of power that has come up over the years. So far most of the SN community has gone with Hanlon's razor, but I think it is time people realized conservatives are maliciously acting out as they slide further into irrelevance. Their moral compass is gone and they are only concerned with some perverted sense of winning.
(Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Friday April 17 2020, @06:39AM
Conservative and alt-right are mutually exclusive.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @12:03PM
Was going to suggest putting a cell-phone controlled dispenser on it and selling it as "e-water" to smart phone users.
But I see you already chug-a-lugged more than a few cases.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday April 15 2020, @12:59PM (3 children)
Concerned about wasting flush water? That doesn't sound like the EF I know.
It doesn't take much to flush a system. Cabins with galvanized pipes will "pour blood from the faucets" when you open them up for the season, running less water than a single shower / tooth brushing is usually enough to clear the color - and iron is an essential mineral anyway.
I guess some people need to be told that the insides of their drinking water pipes are nasty and the only thing that keeps the water relatively clean is continuous motion, but I would think that most people know this already - certainly anyone who calls themselves a facilities manager should.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday April 15 2020, @03:19PM
(Score: 2) by dry on Thursday April 16 2020, @05:36AM (1 child)
Iron, like so many nutrients, does cause problems when too much is consumed, especially if consumed in a non-biological form such as rust.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday April 16 2020, @11:29AM
I always used that as my excuse for not eating spinach, you can actually get unhealthy levels of iron from spinach if you eat too much - like 3 salads a day.
As long as the water is "running clear" the rust content isn't above levels of actual concern, unless you're using it for a "hold your wee for a wii challenge."
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(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 )
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Wednesday April 15 2020, @01:42PM (2 children)
"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.
That's a pretty bold commitment there: TRYING to put energy towards helping others.
(Score: 5, Funny) by c0lo on Wednesday April 15 2020, @02:14PM
Well, yeah, the power may had gone stale staying unused in those wires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday April 15 2020, @04:41PM
The funniest thing is every K12 or at least every elementary shuts down for months every summer since the birth of Prussian style public education centuries ago.
Not all kids go to summer school and they rotate schools, so "Central Middle School" or similar generic name might only shut down 4 out of 5 summers, but whatever, essentially still a valid argument.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @03:15PM (1 child)
It looks like we paid for something that any plumber should know. Flush out your pipes after returning to a closed up building. Surely somebody with a vacation home already knew this?
"The researchers began their study upon receiving funding by the National Science Foundation's Rapid Response Research (RAPID) program only three days after applying."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @03:35PM
There won't be any plumbers after the lockdowns end. Only sole proprietors acting as their own plumbers. If they can't grok it, they're back to shitting in the woods.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday April 15 2020, @04:37PM (1 child)
The water at least was theoretically sanitary once upon a time.
With a company name like "Legionella Risk Management Inc." you'd think they'd consider the somewhat bigger problem of HVAC air handlers, especially evap coils.
I tried to work an ethanol-fueled rant about the demographics of the south being most affected by evap coils and legionella bacteria but whatever, just assume for the argument I put some good comment here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 15 2020, @08:09PM
So you want to be down modded?