A Critical Review on the Factors that Influence Water Quality: From the Water Source to the Fixtures in Residential Buildings

Published

April 10, 2023

Author(s)

Alshae Logan, Marylia Duarte Batista, William M. Healy, Tania Ullah, Andrew Whelton, Timothy Bartrand, Caitlin Proctor, Jennifer Dootz, Visesh Uppoor

Abstract

Residential buildings provide more opportunities for opportunistic premise plumbing pathogens (OPPPs) exposure via aerosolized water droplets compared to commercial buildings. As such, there needs to be preventative measures in place to reduce these types of pathogens in residences. However, a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics and factors influencing the occurrence of (OPPPs) in residential buildings is limited. The objective of this review paper is to summarize the existing literature and identify the knowledge gaps on the topic. The major knowledge gaps include: 1) investigating OPPP growth in whole residential plumbing systems; 2) understanding how chemical parameters influence their growth in the entire building in both cold and hot water systems; 3) identifying how plumbing design and operation creates hot-spots for the growth of different OPPPs; 4) understanding how plumbing components (I.e., valves, and fixtures) and configurations (trunk and branch vs PEX manifold) contribute to the amplification of OPPPs; 5) understanding how residential recirculation systems impact water heater tank temperature stratification, residual decay and creation of sediments on OPPP growth; 6) investigating the impact of leachable carbon from polymer materials and determining how this is used to fuel planktonic- and biofilm-pathogen growth. We conclude by identifying the research needs necessary to reduce OPPP amplification in residential buildings as such research will help determine strategies to diminish their growth in disseminator areas (hot-water fixtures) and to reduce associated health impacts.

Citation

Environmental Science & Technology

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c04277

Local Download

Keywords

Residential Buildings, OPPPs, Stagnation, Water usage, Water Heater, Water Heater Design and Operation

Citation

Logan, A. , Duarte Batista, M. , Healy, W. , Ullah, T. , Whelton, A. , Bartrand, T. , Proctor, C. , Dootz, J. and Uppoor, V. (2023), A Critical Review on the Factors that Influence Water Quality: From the Water Source to the Fixtures in Residential Buildings, Environmental Science & Technology, [online], https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c04277, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=933294 (Accessed October 24, 2025)