| A number of small Alaskan communities have to pump, treat and store a year's worth of water in order to have drinking water when surface sources are inaccessible due to freezing. However, long-term storage and intermittent disinfection of treated water may lead to the formation of disinfection byproducts, known carcinogens. The objective of this study was to research the feasibility of raw water storage and its treatment on an as-needed basis as an alternative to storage of treated water. Raw and treated waters from Barrow, Alaska, were stored for seven months under simulated field storage conditions and periodically tested for a wide range of water quality parameters. The results show no deterioration of the initial quality of the stored raw water, while the quality of the treated water was adversely impacted by the increased formation of disinfection byproducts. These results suggest that the long-term storage of raw water is feasible. |
