Workshop on innovation in hot water system design to meet simultaneous water quality, public health, and conservation objectives

Hot water systems include water heaters, pipes, and connected fixtures to supply hot water within buildings. These systems require a complex interplay of performance requirements and risk trade-offs, while supplying hot water of appropriate temperature, pressure, chemical, and microbiological water quality to protect human health. Improper operation of hot water systems can lead to the growth of plumbing pathogens like Legionella pneumophila, production of disinfection byproducts and other toxic compounds, inefficient energy consumption, and water wastage.

Proper management of hot water systems thus requires a cross disciplinary approach to avoid such adverse outcomes. This grant will support costs for a hybrid workshop consisting of virtual meetings and a two-day in-person workshop focused on innovations in hot water system design. The goal of the workshop is to develop a common level of knowledge across disciplines related to water quality, public health, building science, and energy.

The in-person workshop will advance interdisciplinary hot water system convergence research focused on water quality, energy efficiency, and protection of human health through the control of Legionella and other pathogens. Expected outputs are a project report, peer reviewed manuscripts, and facilitation of interdisciplinary research collaborations for potential future research.

This grant will support costs for a blended virtual/in-person workshop focused on innovation in hot water system design to meet simultaneous water quality, public health, and conservation objectives. The overall goal of the workshop is to identify the science to assess the hypothesis that hot water systems can be reengineered as beneficial and distributed treatment applications that significantly control and improve downpipe chemical and microbial water quality while still maintaining thermal efficiency through their design life.

The specific goals of this workshop designed to achieve this goal include a focus on i) facilitating interdisciplinary knowledge exchange related to the fundamental processes involved in hot water systems and their impact on residential public health; ii) reimagining hot water systems as a series of treatments and practices that reduce the contaminants rather a system that exerts a contamination surcharge; and iii) catalyzing networking between groups of interdisciplinary researchers for future research collaborations related to hot water system improvements and innovation. Dissemination of results from this project will be achieved through a project report, peer reviewed manuscripts, and compilation of a bibliography of area-specific and hot water system specific literature.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.