OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this project was to evaluate the application of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system, a risk management tool, to better protect water quality in distribution systems. BACKGROUND: HACCP was first conceived in 1959 by the Pillsbury Company to improve food safety for NASA & rsquo;s manned space missions. Since the 1980s, HACCP has been widely adopted by the food and beverage industry worldwide, where it forms an important part of their food safety plans. Since the mid-1990s, HACCP has been applied by a number of individual drinking water systems and has been incorporated into many drinking water regulatory requirements and guidelines around the globe. HIGHLIGHTS: Project pilot studies illustrated that HACCP can be applied to water distribution systems, but time and resource requirements were greater than anticipated. Project case studies showed that most utilities that achieved HACCP certification had first implemented ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 or similar systems to gain management control of people and processes. The case study utilities operated one integrated management system including the ISO systems as well as HACCP to avoid duplication of tasks, reduce staff time and costs, and improve process integration. All case study utilities believed that, overall, the benefits of the HACCP system outweighed the costs.

Protecting and maintaining water distributions systems is crucial to ensuring high quality drinking water. Distribution systems-consisting of pipes, pumps, valves, storage tanks, reservoirs, meters, fittings, and other hydraulic appurtenances-carry drinking water from a centralized treatment plant or well supplies to consumers' taps. Spanning almost 1 million miles in the United States, distribution systems represent the vast majority of physical infrastructure for water supplies, and thus constitute the primary management challenge from both an operational and public health standpoint. Recent data on waterborne disease outbreaks suggest that distribution systems remain a source of contamination that has yet to be fully addressed. This report evaluates approaches for risk characterization and recent data, and it identifies a variety of strategies that could be considered to reduce the risks posed by water-quality deteriorating events in distribution systems. Particular attention is given to backflow events via cross connections, the potential for contamination of the distribution system during construction and repair activities, maintenance of storage facilities, and the role of premise plumbing in public health risk. The report also identifies advances in detection, monitoring and modeling, analytical methods, and research and development opportunities that will enable the water supply industry to further reduce risks associated with drinking water distribution systems.

CD-ROM contains chapter 4 and appendices A & B.

Environmental mycobacteria can be found in diverse environments around the world, some of which have the ability to infect animals, birds and humans and have evolved mechanisms by which they can invade and grow within host cells, the pathogenic environmental mycobacteria (PEM). Although the diseases caused by these organisms have been known for many years, it is only recently that the potential significance of PEM as a waterborne pathogen has been appreciated. This publication discusses current knowledge about the distribution of PEM in water and other parts of the environment, the routes of transmission that lead to human infection, the most significant disease symptoms that can follow infection, methods of analysis and detection, the control of PEM in drinking-water and the assessment and management of risks.

The rich palette of topics set out in this book provides a sufficiently broad overview of the developments in the field of quality control. By providing detailed information on various aspects of quality control, this book can serve as a basis for starting interdisciplinary cooperation, which has increasingly become an integral part of scientific and applied research.

The complete and authoritative guide to modern packaging technologies —updated and expanded From A to Z, The Wiley Encyclopedia of Packaging Technology, Third Edition covers all aspects of packaging technologies essential to the food and pharmaceutical industries, among others. This edition has been thoroughly updated and expanded to include important innovations and changes in materials, processes, and technologies that have occurred over the past decade. It is an invaluable resource for packaging technologists, scientists and engineers, students and educators, packaging material suppliers, packaging converters, packaging machinery manufacturers, processors, retailers, and regulatory agencies. In addition to updating and improving articles from the previous edition, new articles are also added to cover the recent advances and developments in packaging. Content new to this edition includes: Advanced packaging materials such as antimicrobial materials, biobased materials, nanocomposite materials, ceramic-coated films, and perforated films Advanced packaging technologies such as active and intelligent packaging, radio frequency identification (RFID), controlled release packaging, smart blending, nanotechnology, biosensor technology, and package integrity inspection Various aspects important to packaging such as sustainable packaging, migration, lipid oxidation, light protection, and intellectual property Contributions from experts in all-important aspects of packaging Extensive cross-referencing and easy-to-access information on all subjects Large, double-column format for easy reference