Introduction to Drinking Water Management - Global Drinking Water Management and Conservation - page 8

management are well known in the literature and are summarized brie y in Chap. 2 ,

and explained in detail in Chap. 6 . Furthermore, a water utility can improve water
quality by better management of its infrastructure for the bene

t of the public. This
is less well known, and so two chapters are devoted to infrastructure asset man-
agement that incorporates risk (Chaps. 7 and 8 ) .
Some large cities in Europe operate water supply as a private but regulated
business. However, in much of the world water is almost exclusively provided by a
local municipality, as a local t

motive, and no incentive to innovate, use more advanced technology, and improve
water quality. The European private companies and other pockets of privatized
water companies seem well managed, but it is not clear that they are innovators in
delivering higher water quality. What seems to lead to higher quality drinking water
is government

“ public ” good. Naturally in this case there is no pro

leadership through adequate regulation, as in Denmark, the

Netherlands, and Germany (Chaps. 9 12 ) . When the public becomes aware of what

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is possible and finds out what has been done in other jurisdictions, such as

Denmark, the Netherlands, and Germany, then perhaps public awareness will push
their local governments and their utilities to improve water quality.
As shown in Chap. 3 , the production of drinking water is characterized by strong
economies of scale, which give large cities a cost advantage and all small and rural
communities (the majority of water systems) a serious disadvantage. This affects the
choice of water treatment technology for drinking water. Some jurisdictions recog-
nize this factor and compensate for it through special programs, while others let the
small communities fend for themselves. This creates an asymmetry, with small
communities meeting the minimum regulatory requirements, with periodic crises,
while the larger cities receive water with a lower probability of disease outbreaks.
However, in all communities that merely meet the minimum regulatory requirements,
long-term threats to health are often ignored. There are two long-term threats to health
associated with the treatment and delivery of drinking water: one is the presence of
lead in drinking water, which is a serious health hazard. It is therefore imperative that
the lead content of drinking water is properly measured; there are two chapters that
deal with lead in drinking water (Chaps. 10 and 11 ) . The other long-term threat is the
use of chlorine and chlorine derivatives used in the disinfection of drinking water
(Chap. 9 ) . The use of chlorine results in a large number of ”

some of which are regulated in the developed countries. But chlorine alone is inef-
fective against protozoa, and the byproducts carry some very long-term threats to
human health. There are new treatment technologies that do not have these
byproducts and are therefore safer. These newer technologies can be used to deliver a
higher quality of water, but there appears to be a lack of knowledge of these possi-
bilities, and possibly apathy among governments. Consumers might demand better
water quality if they had more information on the new technologies and their costs.
Communities in Europe seem more cognizant of some of the long-term threats to
health associated with the use of chlorine as a primary disinfectant, but other threats
due to lead in the water remain a major concern, although there are some European
countries (like Denmark) where this threat is taken very seriously and largely
eliminated. But in the rest of the world the presence of lead in old pipes and even in

“ disinfection byproducts,