Water Quality in Drinking Water Distribution Systems: A Whole-Systems Approach to Decision Making

[EN] Water utilities are responsible for continuously providing safe water to consumers through their drinking water distribution systems. Avoiding siloed approaches that may lengthen critical response times in the case of a water quality hazard can be accomplished through a whole-system approach. To achieve this objective, providers need to pursue the state-of-the-art knowledge and techniques across all facets of water quality management as our understanding of these complex infrastructures continually evolves.This study provides a comprehensive and up-to-date bibliometric study of water quality in drinking water distribution systems over the first twenty years of the 21st century. Analysis of the relevant literature reveals how the research landscape has expanded in terms of number of publications made, variety of topics, and geographic diversity. Each region has a unique ‘research identity’ in the different topics focused upon, yet the presented inter-dependency of factors impacting water quality emphasises the opportunities for sharing of best practices.