Water Distribution System Disinfectant Residual Study
The Town of Reading purchases its drinking water from the MWRA. The MWRA provides water to Reading with a secondary disinfectant residual using chloramines. Since that time it appears that there have been several potential occurrences of nitrification in Reading’s distribution system starting in the late summer / early fall of each year.
We updated the town’s water distribution system hydraulic model to include bulk and pipe wall decay coefficients. We calibrated the chlorine decay in the model with field data collected throughout the distribution system. The model was used to identify and prioritize improvements to the distribution system to improve water quality including tank mixing systems, water main improvements, and a unidirectional flushing program.