An institution of DVGW
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    • Labormitarbeiter an einem LC-MS-Analysegeräte
      Water analysis Conducting and evaluating physical-chemical and microbiological water testing in accordance with German Drinking Water Ordinance and other regulations.
    • Test centre and product testing
      Testing of products and devices Initial testing of products and materials in contact with drinking water. The test centre is accredited for more than 200 product standards.
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      Treatment technologies Develop sustainable water supply concepts. Implement, monitor and optimise new technologies. Test and further develop existing treatment methods.
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      Micropollutants and microorganisms Development and improvement of determination procedures. Investigating occurrence, behaviour and fate of inorganic and organic trace substances.
    • Flushing the drinking water network, starting from a car
      Network management and drinking water installation Advice on safeguarding the quality of drinking water in the distribution system, support in the development of specific network management strategies.
    • Well for drinking water production
      Risk management Supporting water supply companies in setting up continuous risk management for water supply facilities, based on our comprehensive expertise.
    • Employees in front of screens with graphics
      Drinking water catchments and resources Protection of drinking water resources by assessing potential hazards in water catchment areas, catalogues of measures, monitoring concepts, databases.
    • Employee at test columns
      Environmental biotechnology and contaminated sites Environmental biotechnology to improve water quality. Degradation processes for water purification. Concepts and studies for pollutant contamination.
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      Digitalisation Solving complex questions and problems of water supply companies in digitalisation through technical support or practical research projects.
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      Practical projects Research and practice, water supply, scientific and technical expertise, technology concepts, resource protection, distribution network, digitalisation.
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      Resource protection Sustainable resource protection as an important factor for safe drinking water supply, management of hazards and risks in water catchment areas.
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      Environmental biotechnology Technical and biological methods for the elimination of microorganisms, microbiological degradation processes, risk assessment of microbial contamination.
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      Microorganisms Application and development of reliable detection methods for microorganisms in drinking water, evaluation of disinfection and treatment measures.
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      Micropollutants Reliable and sensitive determination of trace substances and microplastics, investigation of the behaviour in the water cycle, qualified risk assessment.
    • Employee fills samples on test columns filled with sand
      Waste water and water cycle Development of integrated water supply and waste water disposal concepts, Utilisation of biodegradation processes to eliminate persistent substances.
    • Employee in front of a computer using a colony counter
      New technologies and products Technologies and products for the treatment, disinfection and post-treatment of drinking water, testing for performance, safety and robustness.
    •  Two employees at a test stand for water distribution
      Asset management and infrastructure Development of asset management strategies to ensure a stable supply of high-quality drinking water, assessment of the condition of pipeline networks.
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      Digitalisation and Management Digitalisation in the areas of data collection, data management, data-driven applications and AI for the water supply.
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An institution of DVGW
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  • Network management and drinking water installation

Network management and drinking water installation

Providing drinking water of highest quality at the tap is one of the primary goals of water supply. This places high requirements on the drinking water network operator. Despite all efforts, it is not possible to entirely exclude variations in quality during water distribution. Targeted measures need to be taken to control and eliminate abnormalities. These measures frequently require detailed knowledge of the complex processes involved in the distribution system. TZW works hard to clarify these processes using specialist methods of analysis and concepts. We offer water supply companies consultation on all aspects of drinking water quality assurance in the distribution system and support them in the development of specific network management strategies.

Pitting corrosion and perforations in galvanised steel, copper and stainless steel can cause damage to water supply systems. We have in-depth technical expertise on this subject and offer comprehensive damage investigations.

What do we offer?

Condition-based flushing of drinking water networks

Brown or turbid water is a frequent quality issue in drinking water distribution and is caused by the mobilisation of deposits in the pipes. TZW has developed the concept of condition-based network flushing. This is based on flushing individual network sections once deposit build-up has reached a critical potential. TZW offers its support for the implementation of a condition-based flushing strategy. This includes developing flushing schedules, conducting, evaluating and scientifically assessing the flushing processes as well as defining tailored flushing intervals and districts.

Assessment of corrosion inhibitors 

Corrosion inhibitors are primarily used in water distribution with the aim of avoiding rusty water. Continuous turbidity measures are ideal for assessing the need to add inhibitors or to optimise the inhibitor composition as well as the additive quantity under the specific distribution system conditions. The corrosion behaviour of the pipe materials in the network can be evaluated in detail using turbidity curves. TZW defines the representative measurement points, provides the measuring instruments and prepares recommendations on inhibitor use after evaluating the turbidity curves.

Identification of microbiological contamination points

In practice, routine testing is frequently revealing isolated findings of coliform bacteria or enterococci. Findings may relate to an indicator for latent pollution or for a sporadic contamination. TZW established the following approaches to quickly and clearly identify contamination points, which have been tried and tested in a range of cases in practice:

  • Microbiological sampling in conjunction with systematic flushing to check colonisation in the network.
  • On-site enrichment of bacteria using the MikroSens filtration system, developed by TZW, to increase test sensitivity.
  • Molecular biological identification to assess hygienic relevance

Preparation of schedules of measures and action plans

According to Section 16 (5) of the German Drinking Water Ordinance, every water supply company is obliged to create a schedule of measures that considers the regional water supply conditions. It is particularly recommended that water supplies without continuous disinfection also create action plans based on the DVGW worksheet W 1020 in addition to a schedule of measures. These contain rules on what to do if microbiological limits are exceeded with the aim of supplying consumers hygienically flawless drinking water at all times without any restrictions on use.

Cause analysis for non-compliance of microbiological limit values in drinking water

Microbiological problems in drinking water can have a variety of causes. TZW offers consultation for water supply companies, authorities, industry and other partners on microbiological limit breaches and hygienic problems in drinking water treatment, distribution and installation.

Monitoring invertebrates

Anomalies caused by invertebrates can also arise in water distribution. Using a filtration system developed by TZW, invertebrates are enriched as part of network irrigation and these are then quantified and identified in the lab. As part of a systematic procedure, the exact population density per pipe section is determined and corrective measures are devised and/or evaluated.

Cause analysis for corrosion damage

Corrosion damage negatively impacts water quality and in the worst case it may cause water leaks. These issues often cause consequential damage to buildings. In addition to a thorough survey taking into account all associated aspects, we conduct corrosion-chemical investigations and cut materials which help to determine the type and cause of damage for the most diverse metallic and non-metallic materials.

Information and links

Flyer - Drinking water network services

Methods and equipment
  • Utility vehicles with flushing device to record the deposit situation and flushing speed
  • Mobile online turbidity measuring devices for installation in the network
  • TZW software “OptFlush” to calculate flushing intervals
  • On-site bacteria enrichment systems “MikroSens”
  • Molecular biological identification procedure
  • Filtering system for enriching invertebrates
  • Algorithms for time series analysis
  • Fourier transform infra-red spectrometer (ftir spectrometer)

Publications

Wricke, B.; Korth, A.; Richardt, S.: Minimierung sedimentbürtiger Gütebeeinträchtigungen durch modellgestützten Rohrnetzbetrieb. Veröffentlichungen aus dem Technologiezentrum Wasser Karlsruhe [Minimisation of sediment-induced quality issues by means of model-based pipeline operation. Publications from TZW Karlsruhe]. Volume 48, (2010)

     

Korth, A., Donath, O.: Zustandsorientierte Spülstrategie für Trinkwassernetze [Condition-based flushing strategy for drinking water networks]. Energie- und Wasserpraxis, 11/2018, (2018), p. 38-41

     

Wricke, B., Korth, A.: Hygienische Sicherheit im Verteilungsnetz – Teil 2: Erkennen und Beseitigen der Ursachen mikrobiologischer Güteveränderungen [Hygienic safety in distribution networks – Part 2: identification and elimination of the causes of microbiological quality changes].. Energie- und Wasserpraxis 11/2016, (2016), p. 32-41

     

Korth, A. and Lohmann M.: Bewertung der Wirkung von Korrosionsinhibitoren im Verteilungsnetz

     

Veröffentlichungen aus dem Technologiezentrum Wasser Karlsruhe [Assessment of the effect of corrosion inhibitors in distribution networks. Publications from TZW Karlsruhe]. Volume 82, (2018)

      

Hügler, M., Petzoldt, H., Korth, A.: Innovativer Ansatz zur Ursachenanalyse mikrobiologischer Belastungen. Veröffentlichungen aus dem Technologiezentrum Wasser Karlsruhe [Innovative approach for the cause analysis of microbiological pollution. Publications from TZW Karlsruhe]. Volume 70, (2015), p. 45-57

 

Volumes from the TZW publication series can be purchased here.

Contact

Management distribution networks

Dr. Andreas Korth +49 351 85211-54 Send email

Drinking water microbiology

Dr. Beate Hambsch +49 721 9678-220 Send email
 

Material hygiene and materials

Dr. Johannes Ruppert +49 721 93163-51 Send email
 

Projects

blue pipes
blue pipes, Source: shutterstock
25.02.2025
Development of principles and concepts for the operation of interconnection pipelines - "(Not)Verbundleitungen"

The research project is developing practical recommendations for the operation of interconnection pipelines in order to strengthen the resilience of…

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Plate heat exchanger
Plate heat exchanger Source: shutterstock
25.02.2025
Heat utilisation from drinking water distribution networks (heat extraction)

The "Heat extraction" research project is investigating the utilisation of heat from drinking water distribution networks in order to review the…

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Invertebrates from water distribution - Water isopods
Invertebrates from water distribution - Water isopods
11.02.2025
Invertebrates within drinking water distribution systems

Climate change is altering the operational conditions of drinking water distributions, which will affect reproduction and distribution of inhabiting…

Read more

More projects

 

Solutions
  • Water analysis
  • Testing of products and devices
  • Treatment technologies
  • Micropollutants and microorganisms
  • Network management and drinking water installation
  • Risk management
  • Drinking water catchments and resources
  • Environmental biotechnology and contaminated sites
  • Digitalisation
  • Practical projects
Research
  • Resource protection
  • Environmental biotechnology
  • Microorganisms
  • Micropollutants
  • Waste water and water cycle
  • New technologies and products
  • Asset management and infrastructure
  • Digitalisation and Management
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