Browsing by Author "Jeffrey, Paul"
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Item Open Access Applying the water safety plan to water reuse: towards a conceptual risk management framework(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2015-04-08) Goodwin, Daniel; Raffin, Marie; Jeffrey, Paul; Smith, Heather M.The Water Safety Plan (WSP) is receiving increasing attention as a recommended risk management approach for water reuse through a range of research programmes, guidelines and standards. Numerous conceptual modifications of the approach – including the Sanitation Safety Plan, the Water Cycle Safety Plan, and even a dedicated Water Reuse Safety Plan – have been put forward for this purpose. However, these approaches have yet to encapsulate the full spectrum of possible water reuse applications, and evidence of their application to reuse remains limited. Through reviewing the existing evidence base, this paper investigates the potential for adapting the WSP into an approach for water reuse. The findings highlight a need for the management of risk to reflect on, and facilitate the inclusion of, broader contexts and objectives for water reuse schemes. We conclude that this could be addressed through a more integrated approach to risk management, encapsulated within an overarching risk management framework (adapted from the WHO's Framework for safe drinking water) and operationalised through the Water Reuse Safety Plan (WRSP). We also propose that the WRSP should be based on modifications to the existing WSP approach, including an increased emphasis on supporting communication and engagement, and improvements in decision support mechanisms to better account for uncertainty, risk interactions and risk prioritisation.Item Open Access Association between water and sanitation service levels and soil-transmitted helminth infection risk factors: a cross-sectional study in rural Rwanda(Oxford University Press, 2020-02-12) Mather, William; Hutchings, Paul; Budge, Sophie; Jeffrey, PaulSoil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections are one of the most prevalent neglected tropical diseases in the world. Drug treatment is the preferred method for infection control yet re-infection occurs rapidly, so water and sanitation represent important complementary barriers to transmission. This cross-sectional study set out to observe STH risk factors in rural Rwandan households in relation to the Sustainable Development Goal water and sanitation service levels. Survey and observation data was collected from 270 households and 67 water sources in rural Rwanda and was processed in relation to broader risk factors identified from the literature for the role of water and sanitation in STH infection pathways. The study found a significant association between higher water and sanitation service levels and lower STH infection risk profiles for both water and sanitation. However, variability existed within service level classifications, indicating that greater granularity within service level assessments is required to more precisely assess the efficacy of water and sanitation interventions in reducing STH infection risks.Item Open Access Automated Drinking Water Quality Assessment: New Insights into Flow Cytometry Fluorescent Fingerprinting without Cell Gating(Cranfield University, 2024-02-16 09:05) Hassard, Francis; Claveau, Leila; Jeffrey, PaulDataset for peer review paper from EngD EPSRC funded thesis L. Claveau - Chapter 2 and Chapter 3Item Open Access Collaboration on risk management: the governance of a non-potable water reuse scheme in London(Elsevier, 2017-07-13) Goodwin, Daniel; Jeffrey, Paul; Cook, H.; Raffin, M.Ageing water infrastructure and population growth, issues that are characteristic of megacities, are likely to exacerbate water supply deficits in London. To address this threat, wastewater reclamation and non-potable reuse can potentially close the supply-demand gap without impacting on environmental water bodies. There is a need to understand the types of challenges that diverse stakeholders face in relation to the governance of NPR schemes, and how those challenges might be addressed in a megacity context. A case study is used to explore these challenges for an operational sewer mining scheme in London, where reclaimed non-potable water is used for irrigation and toilet flushing at the site of the London 2012 Olympic Park. Through qualitative analysis of interview and document data, the results highlight that collaboration and learning opportunities are perceived as necessary to improve scheme governance. The findings indicate that formal and informal engagement activities centred on risk management can support the development of common understandings, build important inter-stakeholder relationships and help maintain trust. Non-potable reuse can contribute to the resilience of megacities through infrastructure diversification, but its feasibility will depend on the willingness of stakeholders to participate and continually negotiate new risk management practices.Item Open Access Common or independent? The debate over regulations and standards for water reuse in Europe(Elsevier, 2016-02-10) Fawell, John; Le Corre Pidou, Kristell; Jeffrey, PaulAlthough unplanned water reuse has been practised across Europe for decades, multiple stresses on water supply and demand over recent years have led to the development of many planned reuse schemes. Despite this development, the legislative and regulatory regimes required to underpin a growing water reuse sector have arguably failed to emerge. The reasons for this and the cases for and against pan-European water reuse regulations are explored and debated. The conclusions highlight several challenges for politicians and policy makers if appropriate regulatory systems and water quality standards are to be provided which support the embryonic European water reuse sector.Item Open Access A comparative evaluation of reverse osmosis membrane performance when combined with anaerobic or aerobic membrane bioreactors for indirect potable reuse applications(Elsevier, 2022-11-18) Huang, Yu; Jeffrey, Paul; Pidou, MarcThe filtration performance and fouling behaviour of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes was investigated for the post-treatment of aerobic (Ae) and anaerobic (An) MBR effluents treating municipal wastewater for potable reuse. Both MBR effluents followed by RO can produce a water quality sufficient for indirect potable water reuse, while fluorescence excitation-emission scan suggests RO can effectively remove disinfection by-products precursors, ensuring the safety for chlorine based reuse water distribution by rejecting the dissolved organic matters in MBR effluents. AnMBR effluent leads to more fouling when compared to the AeMBR effluent with an average membrane fouling resistance of 12.35 × 1013 m−1 and 8.97 × 1013 m−1. Elemental analysis and membrane surface imaging results demonstrate that the foulant deposition sequence is organic and colloidal at first, followed by inorganic substances, while TOC and Ca are the most deposited foulants from both effluents. The unremoved ammonia in the AnMBR effluent may partially go through in the RO permeate and exceed the threshold in Singapore's PUB NEWater standard, while experiencing a significantly higher deposition rate of 13.8 % than the nitrate (0.02 %) from the AeMBR effluent. The findings suggest that the combination of AnMBR with RO offers a more sustainable approach than with the AeMBR but nutrients removal, with the potential of recovery, is recommended before the RO membranes to limit the fouling propensity and achieve a permeate of sufficient quality.Item Open Access Customer contributions to water sector planning and decision-making in England and Wales(Cranfield University, 2015-09) Sayles, Rebecca; Jeffrey, PaulMounting recognition of the socio-political context of the management of water resources has rendered the application of technocratic approaches in isolation insufficient in addressing future management challenges with participatory approaches increasingly promoted in response. Against this background, new regulatory mechanisms in the water sector in England and Wales promise an increased role for the views of customers in water utility planning and decision- making. Yet, existing scholarship on the institutionalisation of participative approaches in water utility planning and decision-making in England and Wales is sparse. This thesis contributes to an improved understanding of factors that hold potential to impact institutionalisation of participative approaches in this context by focusing on three specific aspects of effectiveness; motivational clarity, the influence of participative mechanism design, and the use and influence of water utility customer contributions in water sector planning and decision-making. This has been achieved through the deployment of participatory research in collaboration with the sponsoring organisation (a water utility operating in England and Wales) utilising group discussion and semi-structured interviews with domestic water customers and water utility practitioner respectively. Findings demonstrate that preference elicitation vehicles embedded within participatory mechanisms hold the potential to influence participants expressed preferences thus representing a key design consideration where multi- mechanism approaches are deployed in planning and decision-making contexts. Furthermore, useful design considerations for multi-attribute presentation in participatory mechanisms are presented. Findings also identify a dominance of instrumental and legalistic practitioner motivations for the use of participative approaches in water utility decision-making. Foremost, it identified the significance of the regulator in driving water utility practices for the management and influence of customer contributions in planning and decision- making, and more fundamentally illustrates the significant barrier posed by a legacy of technocratic practices for the institutionalisation of participatory approaches in water utilities.Item Open Access Customer priorities for water and wastewater services: a comparative evaluation of three elicitation methods(Wiley, 2020-07-14) Sayles, Rebecca; Smith, Heather M.; Jeffrey, PaulWater service providers are being urged to incorporate customer preferences into their investment plans with the relative merits of different elicitation techniques being exposed to greater scrutiny. Although elicitation can be undertaken with a range of methods, there is little understanding of their comparative performance in terms of being able to generate consistent or commensurable outcomes. This study reports an evaluation of both intra and inter method consistency for three preference elicitation methods. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient is used to measure consistency within and between elicitation methods and session transcripts provide additional evidence to support interpretation of the ranking process. Findings exposed low intra‐method variation but significant variation in some inter‐method comparisons. Discussion focuses on the internal dynamics of each method with conclusions calling for a wider range of methods to be studied so as to improve practitioner confidence in the use of these toolsItem Unknown Dataset "Sapper - MSc Thesis - Survey Data"(Cranfield University, 2024-10-02) Jeffrey, Paul; Sule, May; Sapper, SydneyItem Unknown Development of a Bayesian network based hybrid-decision support process for potable water management in the context of the water framework directive(Cranfield University, 2012-09) Jackson, Kate; Howsam, Peter; Parsons, David; Jeffrey, PaulUncertain and complex environmental legislation governing the management of water resources has presented significant challenges to those responsible for identifying investment options to manage potable water supplies. This study aimed to develop a decision support process to enable a UK water company to understand and characterise the complex and uncertain implications of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) on the management of potable water supply. A flexible, exploratory and participatory approach was adopted, and included a central reference group comprised of managers representing different departments within the water company. Semi-structured interviews, informal discussions, focus groups, field visits, water company data, academic and legislative documentation, as well as UK water sector literature and observations by the researcher provided data which informed the criteria for and the population of a new Bayesian Network (BN) based Hybrid-Decision Support Process (Hybrid-DSP). Using BNs as a basis for decision support allowed the integration of diverse variables, as well as identifying and representing the relationships between them. The visual representation that BNs provided of the interrelationships between the variables, facilitated organisational learning in relation to the implications of the WFD for potable water management, which led to clearer identification of potential organisational responses. This study demonstrates the practical implications for the use of BNs within a water company in the UK. Furthermore a new BN based Hybrid-DSP has been developed through this study, which offers a systematic and holistic template to identify and analyse water company responses to the implementation of environmental legislation.Item Unknown Evaluating media framing and public reactions in the context of a water reuse proposal(Taylor and Francis, 2017-07-17) Goodwin, Daniel; Raffin, Marie; Jeffrey, Paul; Smith, Heather M.The public is increasingly engaging with information about water reuse proposals through the Internet. Though there are benefits to engaging the public online, there may also be challenges associated with media bias or online advocacy. This study qualitatively examines the public response (online comments, n = 1323) to online news reporting an indirect potable reuse proposal for London. The study found no evidence of the media’s framing of the event strongly shaping the unsolicited online public reactions. Findings suggest that though communications may struggle to counter longer-term news agendas, there may be benefits to experimenting with framing water safety measures and shorter-term gains.Item Unknown Evaluation of WATSAN technologies in developing countires: development and testing of a diagnostic tool(Cranfield University, 2010-08) Roma, Elisa; Jeffrey, PaulFor decades the problems of access to and sustained use of water and sanitation (WATSAN) technologies in developing countries has dominated the political agendas of international organisations and governments. Despite the significant investments made and the apparent appropriateness of technologies transferred, the effective implementation and sustained use of WATSAN technologies remains a chimera. More importantly, improving access to water and sanitation does not necessarily guarantee the longevity of those systems transferred. Lessons from past interventions suggest that the success of WATSAN interventions depends on the ability of ensuring users‟ broad acceptance of the technologies and sustained used after donor assistance ends. Yet, in the academic literature users‟ feedback and experiences in the post-implementation stage of technologies has received scarce attention. Against this background, this thesis aims to contribute to understanding the dynamics involved in the process of WATSAN technology adoption and sustained use in developing countries by reporting the design and evaluation of a diagnostic post- implementation tool, called RECAP, to address and investigate the problem. This research employs a multiple case study approach to evaluate users‟ post-implementation experience of WATSAN technologies in South Africa and Indonesia. Semi-structured interviews with technology users as well as in depth interviews with local governments and health clinics were conducted in three case studies. By comparing and contrasting technology intended performance and users‟ experiences in the post-implementation stage this study aims to identify potential challenges to technology sustained used. Conclusions relate to the existence of discrepancies between performance and experience, manifested in the post-implementation stage, which suggest the necessity to develop evolving mechanisms to routinely assess users‟ feedbacks of the technologies and assist them with appropriate interventions. Further conclusions relate to the validity, reliability and flexibility of a post-implementation diagnostic tool in investigating user experiences, diagnosing emerging challenges and suggesting remedial intervention to contribute to sustained technology use.Item Unknown Factors influencing the uptake of household water connections in peri-urban Maputo, Mozambique(Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam., 2014-03-31T00:00:00Z) Jimenez-Redal, Ruben; Parker, Alison; Jeffrey, PaulRapid urbanization in many African cities has had a significant impact on the basic water services in peri-urban areas, where providing services can be complex. In the city of Maputo, Mozambique, the initial uptake of new household connections following network construction in peri-urban areas was slow. Focus group discussions with residents and interviews with key actors revealed the importance of offering flexible payment options to the urban poor in order to increase the affordability of connection charges. Although the high connection fee was a constraint, residents were willing to pay if the charges were spread across several monthly installments. These findings suggest that flexible payment arrangements for customers can both bring utility services within reach of low income households and expand the customer base for utility service providers.Item Unknown Fouling control of a membrane coupled photocatalytic process treating greywater(Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam., 2009-09-01T00:00:00Z) Pidou, Marc; Parsons, Simon A.; Raymond, Gaelle; Jeffrey, Paul; Stephenson, Tom; Jefferson, BruceFouling in membrane coupled photocatalytic reactors was investigated in the case of greywater treatment by establishing the link between product type, dose, irradiation time and fouling rates in a cross flow membrane cell fitted with a 0.4 μm pore sized polyethylene membrane. Rapid fouling occurred only with shower gels and conditioners and was linked to changes in the organo-TiO2 aggregate size postulated to be caused by polymers within the products. Fouling was reduced to a negligible level when sufficient irradiation was applied demonstrating that the membrane component of the process is not the issue and that scale up and implementation of the process relates to effective design of the UV reactorItem Unknown From risk to safety management: stakeholder engagement to inform the governance and design if water reuse schemes.(2017-12) Goodwin, Daniel; Smith, Heather M.; Jeffrey, PaulWater reuse is a feasible technological approach to addressing urban water management challenges. Whilst stakeholder acceptance is acknowledged as important for scheme success, less is known about how to interpret and influence stakeholder attitudes to water reuse, how preferences for risk mitigation influence scheme design, and what forms of engagement with risk work in what contexts. This thesis aims to understand the nature of stakeholder perceptions and expectations in the context of water reuse schemes, and to critically evaluate how stakeholder engagement with risk management can be used to enhance the governance and design of water reuse schemes. Through an embedded case study design and mixed-methods research, perceptions of water reuse as a feasible water management intervention in London are explored. This study offers a number of contributions to the immediate field of research. Firstly, the findings highlight perceived benefits to engaging stakeholders through more collaborative learning-by-doing risk management. Secondly, the findings help to improve knowledge of methods for interpreting, informing and influencing stakeholders’ perceptions through mediums such as online news and video animations. Thirdly, findings contribute to the understanding of the effectiveness of communication through showing an impact on public perceptions predicated on the focal characteristics of risk management messages. Fourthly, findings indicate that preferences for different recycled water uses and perceptions of certain scheme configurations could influence design decisions. Finally, findings support benefits of including stakeholders in multi-criteria evaluations of risk-based decisions. A further contribution of this research is the identification of a number of thematic conditions necessary for enhancing scheme governance and design. These thematic conditions can assist in developing knowledge that focuses on overcoming the challenges of translating contemporary management and design theory into practice. In particular, this research highlights implication for advancing state-of-the-art risk management frameworks, specifically, through adopting more adaptive rationales informed through stakeholder engagement. This study contributes to the development of local and regional capabilities for water reuse risk management with implications for developing more strategic water reuse guidance and policy.Item Unknown Impact of pre-treatment technologies on soil aquifer treatment(IWA Publishing, 2016-02-10) Besançon, A.; Pidou, Marc; Jeffrey, Paul; Jefferson, Bruce; Le Corre Pidou, KristellThis study investigates the impact of pre-treatment options on the performances of soil columns simulating soil aquifer treatment (SAT). For this purpose a conventional activated sludge (CAS) process, a membrane bioreactor (MBR) and vertical flow reed beds were used as single units or in combination before SAT. The influent and effluent from each treatment train were monitored over three successive 6-month periods, corresponding to changes in the operational conditions of the MBR and CAS units from 6 days' sludge retention time (SRT) to 12 and 20 days. All the columns acted as efficient polishing steps for solids and bacteria. The column receiving effluent from the CAS system running at 6 days' SRT also presented high total nitrogen and total phosphorus removals, but this column was also associated with the lowest infiltration rates over that period. While the quality of the effluent from the column following the CAS process increased over 18 months of operation, the effluent quality of the columns receiving MBR effluent degraded. No correlations were found between variations in SRT of the MBR and CAS processes and the columns' performances. Overall, all columns, except the one receiving CAS effluent, underwent a reduction in infiltration rate over 18 months.Item Unknown The impact of regulation, ownership arrangements, and management culture on risk management practices within the water industry(Cranfield University, 2015-10) Allan, Richard; Jeffrey, Paul; Pollard, SimonAlthough the specifics of water utility ownership, regulation and management culture have been explored in terms of their impact on economic and customer value, there has been little meaningful engagement with their influence on the risk environment and risk management. Using a two phase case study approach as the primary source of information, this thesis asks what are the particular features of regulation, ownership arrangements and management culture which influence risk management, and what are the implications of these relationships in the context of ambitions for resilient organizations? In addressing these queries, the thesis considers the mindful choices and adjustments a utility must make to its risk management strategy to manage strategic tensions between efficiency, risk and delivery of safe drinking water. The case studies expose a tension between the ambition of the water service providers` strategic objectives to provide safe drinking water and the priority that executives place on corporate financial health. This leads to the conclusion that public health risk rankings need re-evaluation in relation to financial risks. There was no evidence to demonstrate that public health risk mitigation had been costed and evaluated against the strategic objectives of the studied organisations. Furthermore, the nature of risk conversations varied within organisations, changing the meaning of risk vertically within the business. A proposed model for the reporting of risk tolerance and risk appetite with respect to mitigating public health risk is the result. Such approaches to risk reporting and costing will support water authorities in meeting corporate aspirations to become ‘high reliability’ services while retaining the capacity to out-perform financial and service level targets, irrespective of regulation, ownership arrangements or management culture.Item Open Access Impacts of scaling up water recycling and rainwater harvesting technologies on hydraulic and hydrological flows(Cranfield University, 2008) Bertrand, Nathalie Marie-Ange; Jeffrey, PaulIn recent years, the increasing awareness of scarcity of water resources, indications of likely climate variability, and the increasing pressure to use available fresh water resources more efficiently have together reinforced the need to look at infrastructure solutions with due regard to environmental considerations and social impacts, present and future. There is a vital need to apply an integrated approach to catchment management to implement sustainable solutions to resolve issues such as water supply and sewerage, drainage and river flooding. Many potentials solutions are available to control water demand and manage flood problems. Greywater recycling and rainwater harvesting are novel technologies. However, their catchment scale impacts on hydraulic and hydrological flows are poorly understood. The research aim is to identify the hydrologic and hydraulic impacts of scaling up such technologies at catchment scale. For this particular study, a computer simulation model will be used to evaluate how increasing urbanisation, climate change and the implementation of greywater recycling and rainwater harvesting may alter the water balance within a representative catchment. To achieve these aims data from the Carrickmines catchment in Ireland have been collected; a simulation model has been adapted to carry out the study, the model has been calibrated and validated, results have been analysed, and finally, a sensitivity analysis has been carried out. The results show that rainwater harvesting systems are comparatively more effective than greywater recycling techniques in reducing flood frequency and intensity. Under five year return period rainfall events, the implementation of rainwater harvesting at any scale and number of units is a useful technique to control river flow and floods. However, the study also shows that under extreme conditions the efficiency of rainwater harvesting systems decreases. The study concludes that implementing the two technologies within a single catchment is not a solution to several forms of hydrological problem. The study shows that implementing rainwater harvesting or re-use technologies are a very useful way to protect local freshwater reserves and therefore conserve our environment.Item Open Access Industry-Academia Research Collaboration; characterising structure, process & attitudes in support of best practice(Cranfield University, 2005-03) Butcher, Juliette; Jeffrey, PaulIndustry-academia collaborative research has become a subject of increasing interest in recent years to academics, industrialists and policymakers due to greater awareness of the importance of such links for innovation and the knowledge-based economy. However, such collaborations are not always successful for reasons which are poorly researched. The main objective of this thesis is to identify the main factors that impede or enhance successful research collaboration. The research agenda is guided by a review of the current literature which indicates that the effectiveness of industry-academia collaborative research depends to some extent on the following factors: (i) the motivations/objectives for collaborative research, (ii) the modes of communication between collaborative partners, and (iii) the management of the collaborative process. The influence of each of these three factors on collaboration effectiveness is investigated using a conceptual model and two pieces of complementary fieldwork. The conceptual model illustrates the relationship between the three factors and the structure of collaboration, the collaborative process and the attitudes of collaborative participants. The fieldwork activities, which provide data on individual perceptions of industry-academia collaborative research experience, comprise an interview survey of collaborative research facilitators, and a questionnaire survey of students working on projects jointly supervised by academics and industrialists. Findings from these two activities are analysed in terms of their contribution to the existing literature on industry-academia collaboration and their conformity with the conceptual model. The perspectives of the research facilitators are also directly compared with those of the students. The results support current awareness in the literature that industry-academia collaborations are difficult to analyse and manage because of their diverse structures, their dynamic nature and the variety of factors that influence their effectiveness. Whilst the research findings do provide some indication of why collaborations succeed or fail and how they can best be managed, the fact that no two collaborations are the same in terms of motivations, objectives, structure, process, outcomes, type of participants, etc., precludes prescriptive generalisations. Suggestions for best practice include adopting an adaptable management structure and using a 'relationship management' approach for long term collaborative relationships.Item Open Access Informing public attitudes to non-potable water reuse – The impact of message framing(Elsevier, 2018-08-04) Goodwin, Daniel; Raffin, M.; Jeffrey, Paul; Smith, Heather M.Water reuse is of increasing relevance for water-stressed regions but is often considered a contentious option. Research has shown that providing the public with information about reuse options can impact positively on its acceptability, although such impacts can be confined to specific groups. In this context, there is growing interest in understanding the impact of different forms and mechanisms of communication with the public around reuse. This contribution has investigated the use of video animations to communicate the safety of non-potable recycled water schemes. The aim of this study was to evaluate how different ways of framing messages about the safety of recycled water might impact on public attitudes. Participants were recruited in London (n = 689), UK, and randomly allocated to test and control groups, with the former being exposed to one of four video animations that used different frames to convey messages about recycled water safety. Surveys collected pre- and post-video message responses for dependent variables including the general acceptance of diverse non-potable recycled water uses, risk perceptions and trust. The findings complement existing knowledge on the impacts of different types of messaging on public attitudes to reuse schemes with important evidence for the positive impact of water safety communications framed in terms of compliance with water quality requirements. Contrarily, a positive attitudinal impact was not evident for safety message framed in terms of the selection of water treatment technology to remove contaminants nor in terms of non-potable water risks relative to other every-day risks. The results are of value to water resource planners looking to develop communication resources, as part of more comprehensive public engagement strategies, for improving perceptions of water reuse. Importantly, the findings help isolate the effects of specific message frames, and inform the debate on whether an increased understanding of risk positively or negatively influences willingness to support water reuse schemes.