Conventional media filtration is the most common process used as one of the main barriers for pathogen and solids removal in water treatment. The Australian Drinking Water Guideline (2011) includes LRV credits for organisms based on treated water turbidity limits. However, the effectiveness of this treatment process in removing pathogens is not typically validated and performance can vary greatly between treatment plants. Hence, understanding the actual LRV performance of media filters is critical to both designing new treatment facilities and understanding any treatment shortfall for existing facilities.

A related protocol for the validation of membrane filters could potentially be adapted for the validation of granular filters. However, the requirements from health regulators, for validation design and safety considerations if surrogate organisms are used, are unknown. The practicality of application in full scale drinking water treatment plants to incorporate any health regulator needs also needs consideration. Therefore, capturing the health policy positions in various Australian jurisdictions and understanding any practical constraints to full-scale validation prior to developing the validation guide are critical to success.

This project will use a progressive approach to determine the regulatory requirements for the validation of drinking water processes, identify any practical constraints for full-scale process validation, and develop a validation protocol or identify further work required to address knowledge gaps or concerns related to the safety or technical feasibility of conducting full-scale validation of granular media filters (to produce drinking water in particular).

Traditionally, Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) Validation is focussed on performance during commissioning when membranes are new, and the range of operating conditions are limited. As membranes age it is important to understand how MBR performance changes to have confidence in the quality of the water produced. Gathering data on the relationships between operational monitoring parameters such as turbidity and pathogen removal during the life of membranes would assist operators to understand the ongoing performance of membranes compared with initial performance.

The former Water Recycling Centre of Excellence developed the MBR Validation Protocol. This protocol was prepared as part of NatVal to provide guidance for the validation of MBRs. It proposed a tiered approach that allowed for a simplified process where log reduction values (LRVs) are claimed.

The aim of this project is to collect and review performance data from a broad range of operating MBR facilities in Australia to understand the pathogen LRV performance in relation to operating conditions and monitoring parameters; targeting a range of membrane age, integrity, performance, and control. This will allow water managers to understand and predict the ongoing performance of MBR plants compared to initial performance, informing future MBR design and also assisting in optimising membrane lifecycle planning. This research will also provide operators and regulators with greater confidence MBR operation throughout the asset life, and lower the whole of life cost of MBR ownership for water service providers by maximising the validated operating envelope.