School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway NSW, Australia.
Water Sci Technol. 2010;61(2):421-8. doi: 10.2166/wst.2010.823.
Although most Australians receive their domestic supply from reticulated mains or town water, there are vast areas with very low population densities and few reticulated supplies. In many of these areas rainwater collected in tanks is the primary source of drinking water. Heavy metals have recently become a concern as their concentration in rain water tanks was found to exceed recommended levels suitable for human consumption. Rainwater storage tanks also accumulate contaminants and sediments that settle to the bottom. Although not widely acknowledged, small amounts of contaminants such as lead found in rain water (used as drinking water) may have a cumulative and poisonous effect on human health over a life time. This is true for certain factors that underlie many of the chronic illnesses that are becoming increasingly common in contemporary society. The paper reports on a study which is part of a project that aims to develop a cost effective in-line filtration system to improve water quality in rainwater tanks. To enable this, the characteristics of rainwater need to be known. One component of this characterization is to observe the effects of the first flush on a rainwater tank. Samples of the roof runoff collected from an urban residential roof located in the Sydney Metropolitan Area in the initial first few millimetres of rain were analysed. The results show that bypassing the first 2 mm of rainfall gives water with most water quality parameters compliant with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) standards. The parameters that did not comply were lead and turbidity, which required bypassing approximately the first 5 mm of rainfall to meet ADWG standards. Molecular weight distribution (MWD) analysis showed that the concentration of rainwater organic matter (RWOM) decreased with increasing amount of roof runoff.
虽然大多数澳大利亚人从管网或城镇供水系统获得家庭用水，但仍有很大一部分地区人口密度极低，几乎没有管网供应。在这些地区的许多地方，收集在水箱中的雨水是主要的饮用水源。由于雨水箱中的重金属浓度被发现超过了适合人类饮用的建议水平，重金属最近成为了人们关注的焦点。雨水储存箱还会积聚污染物和沉淀物，这些污染物和沉淀物会沉淀到底部。尽管人们尚未广泛认识到这一点，但雨水（用作饮用水）中所含的少量污染物，如铅，可能会在一生中对人体健康产生累积和有毒的影响。这对于许多在当代社会中越来越普遍的慢性疾病的根本因素来说是如此。本文报道了一项研究，该研究是一个旨在开发具有成本效益的在线过滤系统以改善雨水箱水质的项目的一部分。为了实现这一目标，需要了解雨水的特性。其中一个特征是观察雨水箱的初次冲洗对水质的影响。分析了从位于悉尼大都市区的城市住宅屋顶上收集的最初几毫米降雨的屋顶径流水样。结果表明，仅使用前 2 毫米的雨水即可使大多数水质参数符合澳大利亚饮用水指南 (ADWG) 标准。不符合标准的参数是铅和浊度，需要绕过最初的约 5 毫米的降雨量才能达到 ADWG 标准。分子量分布 (MWD) 分析表明，雨水有机物 (RWOM) 的浓度随屋顶径流量的增加而降低。
