Evaluating the impact of ambient benzene vapor concentrations on product water from Condensation Water From Air technology.

Globally, drinking water resources are diminishing in both quantity and quality. This situation has renewed interest in Condensation Water From Air (CWFA) technology, which utilizes water vapor in the air to produce water for both potable and non-potable purposes. However, there are currently insufficient data available to determine the relationship between air contaminants and the rate at which they are transferred from the air into CWFA untreated product water. This study implemented a novel experimental method utilizing an environmental test chamber to evaluate how air quality and temperature affects CWFA untreated product water quality in order to collect data that will inform the type of water treatment required to protect human health. This study found that temperature and benzene air concentration affected the untreated product water from a CWFA system. Benzene vapor concentrations representing a polluted outdoor environment resulted in benzene product water concentrations between 15% and 23% of the USEPA drinking water limit of 5µg/l. In contrast, product water benzene concentrations representing an indoor industrial environment were between 1.4 and 2.4 times higher than the drinking water limit. Lower condenser coil temperatures were correlated with an increased concentration of benzene in the product water. Environmental health professionals and engineers can integrate the results of this assessment to predict benzene concentrations in the product water and take appropriate health protective measures.

Reverse water-level fluctuations associated with fracture connectivity.

Reverse water-level fluctuations (RWFs), a phenomenon in which water levels rise briefly in response to pumping, were detected in monitoring wells in a fractured siliciclastic aquifer system near a deep public supply well. The magnitude and timing of RWFs provide important information that can help interpret aquifer hydraulics near pumping wells. A RWF in a well is normally attributed to poroelastic coupling between the solid and fluid components in an aquifer system. In addition to revealing classical pumping-induced poroelastic RWFs, data from pressure transducers located at varying depths and distances from the public supply well suggest that the RWFs propagate rapidly through fractures to influence wells hundreds of meters from the pumping well. The rate and cycling frequency of pumping is an important factor in the magnitude of RWFs. The pattern of RWF propagation can be used to better define fracture connectivity in an aquifer system. Rapid, cyclic head changes due to RWFs may also serve as a mechanism for contaminant transport.