The webinar is co-hosted by the IWA Specialist Groups on Water Reuse and Health-Related Water Microbiology. It is the fourth webinar of a series paving the road to the 13th IWA International Conference on Water Reclamation and Reuse to be held in Chennai on 15-19 January 2023. The first episode of the “On the Road to Chennai 2023” webinar series was held on 15 February 2022, highlighting trends of potable water reuse in the United States. The second episode on 26 April 2022 focused on industrial wastewater reuse from an emerging economy perspective. The third webinar was held on 26 May 2022 and discussed the role played by industries in water reuse in advanced economies.

The fourth webinar will give an overview of recent progress in microbiological safety for potable water reuse, discussing two potable water reuse options currently gaining prevalence:  direct potable reuse (DPR) and indirect potable reuse (IPR). DPR is defined as the direct usage of treated wastewater as a drinking water source or the direct introduction of treated wastewater into a potable water distribution system. Meanwhile, IPR is the recharge of a drinking water source (river water, lake water, or groundwater) with treated wastewater that precedes drinking water treatment. Both DPR and IPR present advantages, disadvantages and many challenges during its implementation, conduction, regulations and practices.

The webinar will also discuss how the water treatment sector is expected to combine treatment processes with meeting health requirements, underlining that dwindling water supply is an issue in many areas of the world. Participants will hear about how quantitative microbial risk assessment is utilised for evaluating options necessary for the log removal of pathogens.  

Most importantly, the webinar will address significant issues for the water industry, such as how to appropriately validate and assign values to log removals as part of the treatment process.

The draft agenda is listed below:

• Welcome, introduction, housekeeping rules – Josef Lahnsteiner & Regina Sommer
• Converting operational monitoring data to probabilistic log reduction values in water treatment for potable reuse – Stuart Khan
• Q&A – Samendra Sherchan & Daisuke Sano
• Quantification of viruses before and after RO at a potable reuse facility – Midori Yasui
• Removal of viral indicators of advanced treatment performance evaluated at full-scale water reuse facilities – Walter Betancourt
• General discussion – Ricardo Santos & Kwanrawee Joy Sirikanchana
• Soft-sensor development for monitoring virus removal performance of wastewater reclamation processes – Yifan Zhu
• QRMA to inform health protection for de facto and planned potable reuse scenarios – Jeffrey Soller
• Discussion, final remarks and conclusion – Hiro Katayama & Rosina Girones