Estimation of corrosive and scaling trend in drinking water systems in the city of Azogues, Ecuador

Abstract The quality of drinking water flowing in a distribution network can possess corrosive characteristics that may cause the material degradation of pipes and accessories. This problem can result in reduction of the service life of pipes and create a major public health problem. The agreement between the physical-chemical water quality analysis and national standards are not enough to confirm the balance of the water quality in terms of corrosion. In order to predict pipe corrosion in water distribution system networks, the corrosive trend was evaluated using the Langelier (LSI), Ryznar (RSI), and Larson-Skold (LRI) indexes based on measurements of pH, temperature, total dissolved solids, alkalinity, calcium hardness, sulfate and chloride. This study was setup with 180 samples collected in six zones of the distribution network, from July to December of 2017, according to the standard methods for the analysis of drinking water. The results indicate a variation of the LSI from -1.22 to -1.68; RSI from 9.75 to 10.52 and LRI from 0.46 to 0.77. A linear model was fitted for each index to predict the corrosion with the water quality conditions of this study case. Therefore, the drinking water of the city of Azogues, Ecuador has a corrosive tendency from significant to severe. Corrosion indices were calculated to provide useful information on the water's corrosiveness. These results indicate the need to constantly monitor the corrosion rate in the distribution network and conduct a laboratory study to adjust effective parameters such as pH, in order to control corrosion.