Dr Stewart Husband
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering
Research Fellow of Drinking Water Quality
s.husband@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 7901 109027
+44 7901 109027
Sir Frederick Mappin Building (Broad Lane Building)
Full contact details
Dr Stewart Husband
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering
Sir Frederick Mappin Building (Broad Lane Building)
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering
Sir Frederick Mappin Building (Broad Lane Building)
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
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My research investigates how drinking water quality changes during transport through massive distribution pipe networks and how we can best manage this complex ecosystem.
Dr Stewart Husband
Stewart holds a masters in Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering from the University of Surrey and a post-graduate teaching degree from the University of Bristol. After teaching secondary science, he joined the University of Sheffield researching the impacts of distribution systems on drinking water quality where he completed his Ph.D. He continues to develop the internationally verified concept of cohesive material layers and highlighting biofilms as a key processes. He has undertaken thousands of trials in live networks, developed monitoring equipment, constructed full scale laboratory pipe systems, hosts open-access models and supports companies worldwide delivering operational benefits that has resulted in multi-million savings and improved delivered water quality.
- Research interests
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Drinking water distribution systems provide an essential service, yet these large and complex engineering infrastructures that typically remain hidden and buried underground, are also living ecosystems hosting continual physico-chemical and biological interactions.
Although normally an operating equilibrium is established, any network change, planned or otherwise, can create either widespread or localised issues such as discolouration.
To effectively manage these systems therefore, we need to understand the behaviour and how our actions impact the microbial communities and release of material that accumulates across all surfaces.
This can be achieved by detailed study and monitoring, and with many years researching distribution systems, constructing world leading laboratory facilities and 1000’s of field trials across the UK and internationally, we have fully validated the concepts now known in the industry as PODDS.
By applying this developed understanding and modelling skills, operational practices in partner water companies has been transformed, leading to improved resilience, service and water quality plus resource efficiencies and multi-million savings.
Critically as living systems, research is now focussing on conserving this vital resource, the impact of climate changes and the health implications to all of us as consumers.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Managing discolouration in drinking water distribution systems by integrating understanding of material behaviour. Water Research, 243. View this article in WRRO
- Costing of strategies for long-term trunk main discolouration management. Water Research, 242, 120301-120301.
- A data quality assessment framework for drinking water distribution system water quality time series datasets. Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology.
- Simulating long term discolouration behaviour in large diameter trunk mains. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology.
- Influence of Service Reservoir Construction Age on the Likelihood of Bacteriological Failure Occurrence. Institute of Water Journal(8), 22-25.
- The application of artificial intelligence techniques to better manage iron in drinking water distribution systems. Institute of Water Journal(7), 28-34. View this article in WRRO
- Non-invasive biofouling monitoring to assess drinking water distribution system performance. Frontiers in Microbiology, 12. View this article in WRRO
- Intermittent water supply impacts on distribution system biofilms and water quality. Water Research, 201. View this article in WRRO
- Impact of phosphate dosing on the microbial ecology of drinking water distribution systems: fieldwork studies in chlorinated networks. Water Research, 187. View this article in WRRO
- Uncharted waters: the unintended impacts of residual chlorine on water quality and biofilms. npj Biofilms and Microbiomes, 6. View this article in WRRO
- The microbial ecology of a Mediterranean chlorinated drinking water distribution systems in the city of Valencia (Spain). Science of The Total Environment, 754. View this article in WRRO
- The operational value of inlet monitoring at service reservoirs. Urban Water Journal, 17(8), 735-744. View this article in WRRO
- Long-term discolouration modelling for cast iron mains. Urban Water Journal. View this article in WRRO
- Decision-making tools to manage the microbiology of drinking water distribution systems. Water, 12(5). View this article in WRRO
- Microbial diversity, ecological networks and functional traits associated to materials used in drinking water distribution systems. Water Research, 173. View this article in WRRO
- Impact of hydraulic interventions on chronic and acute material loading and discolouration risk in drinking water distribution systems. Water Research, 169, ---. View this article in WRRO
- Calibrating and validating a combined accumulation and mobilisation model for water distribution system discolouration using particle swarm optimisation. Smart Water, 4. View this article in WRRO
- Understanding microbial ecology to improve management of drinking water distribution systems. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 6(1). View this article in WRRO
- Quantity and Quality Benefits of in-Service Invasive Cleaning of Trunk Mains. Drinking Water Engineering and Science, 10, 45-52. View this article in WRRO
- Understanding and managing discolouration risk in trunk mains. Water Research, 107, 127-140. View this article in WRRO
- Linking discolouration modelling and biofilm behaviour within drinking water distribution systems. Water Science and Technology: Water Supply, 16(4), 942-950. View this article in WRRO
- Dynamics of Biofilm Regrowth in Drinking Water Distribution Systems. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 82(14), 4155-4168. View this article in WRRO
- Operational management of trunk main discolouration risk. Urban Water Journal, 13(4), 382-395. View this article in WRRO
- Multivariate data mining for estimating the rate of discolouration material accumulation in drinking water distribution systems. Journal of Hydroinformatics, 18(1), 96-114. View this article in WRRO
- Predictive water quality modelling and resilience flow conditioning to manage discolouration risk in operational trunk mains. Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology-Aqua, 64(5), 529-542. View this article in WRRO
- The bacteriological composition of biomass recovered by flushing an operational drinking water distribution system. Water Research, 54, 100-114. View this article in WRRO
- Modelling both the continual erosion and regeneration of discolouration material in drinking water distribution systems. New Developments in IT & Water. View this article in WRRO
- The role of trunk mains in discolouration. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Water Management, 163(8), 397-406.
- Asset deterioration and discolouration in water distribution systems. Water Research.
- A new coupon design for simultaneous analysis of in situ microbial biofilm formation and community structure in drinking water distribution systems. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 1-8.
- Field Studies of Discolouration in Water Distribution Systems: Model Verification and Practical Implications. ASCE Journal Water Resources Planning and Management, 136, 86-94.
- Laboratory studies investigating the processes leading to discolouration in water distribution networks. WATER RESEARCH, 42(16), 4309-4318.
- A metric for drinking water service reservoir performance as a sink or source of material. AQUA — Water Infrastructure, Ecosystems and Society.
- Algorithms to mimic human interpretation of turbidity events from drinking water distribution systems. Journal of Hydroinformatics.
Chapters
- Fundamentals of internal corrosion and metal release In Giani R (Ed.), M58--internal Corrosion Control in Water Distribution Systems American Water Works Association
Conference proceedings papers
- Crowd-sourced Turbidity Event Scale for Proactive Management of Drinking Water Quality in Distribution Systems
- Assessing Mixing in Service Reservoirs to Protect Drinking Water Quality. 15th International Conference on Hydroinformatics, 27 May 2024 - 30 May 2024.
- Predicting Iron Exceedance Risk in Drinking Water Distribution Systems Using Machine Learning. 14th International Conference on Hydroinformatics, 4 July 2022 - 8 July 2022.
- Determining the spatio-temporal relationship between water quality monitors in drinking water distribution systems. 14th International Conference on Hydroinformatics, 4 July 2022 - 8 July 2022.
- Drinking Water Biofilm Management and Monitoring
- The operational value of inlet monitoring at service reservoirs. Proceedings of the 17th International Computing and Control for the Water Industry Conference, 1 September 2019 - 4 September 2019.
- Discolouration modelling. Proceedings of the 17th International Computing and Control for the Water Industry Conference, 1 September 2019 - 4 September 2019.
- Predicting turbidity in water distribution trunk mains using nonlinear autoregressive exogenous artificial neural networks. HIC 2018. 13th International Conference on Hydroinformatics, Vol. 3 (pp 1030-1039), 1 July 2018 - 6 July 2018. View this article in WRRO
- Optimising Flow Conditioning in Operational Trunk Mains for Discolouration Risk Reduction and Maintaining Network Resilience. Vol 1 (2018): WDSA / CCWI Joint Conference 2018
- Understanding material accumulation and discolouration risk in distribution networks. 1st International WDSA / CCWI 2018 Joint Conference
- The impact of chlorine concentration on the discolouration response of biofilms in drinking water distribution systems. 1st International WDSA / CCWI 2018 Joint Conference
- Monitoring biofilm communities in operational drinking water distribution systems and the impact on water quality. 1st International WDSA / CCWI 2018 Joint Conference
- Seasonal temperature and turbiditybehaviour in trunkmains. 1st International WDSA / CCWI 2018 Joint Conference
- Rusby Wood a Smart Network for Sustainable Discolouration Risk Reduction. CCWI2017, 5 September 2017 - 7 September 2017.
- Discolouration risk management and chlorine wall decay. CCWI 2017 - 15th International Conference on Computing and Control for the Water Industry
- Identifying Material Accumulation Processes in Drinking Water Distribution Systems with Extended Period EPANET MSX Turbidity Simulations. Procedia Engineering, Vol. 119 (pp 398-406)
- Multivariate Data Mining for Estimating the Rate of Discoloration Material Accumulation in Drinking Water Systems. Procedia Engineering, Vol. 89 (pp 173-180)
- Modelling and Flow Conditioning to Manage Discolouration in Trunk Mains. Procedia Engineering, Vol. 70 (pp 833-842) View this article in WRRO
- Long Term Asset Condition and Discolouration Modelling in Water Distribution Systems with Epanet MSX. World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2012
- Misleading Velocity Analysis for Water Quality Management in Transmission Mains. World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2012
- Trunk main discolouration trials and strategic planning. Urban Water Management: Challenges and Oppurtunities - 11th International Conference on Computing and Control for the Water Industry, CCWI 2011, Vol. 2
- Rivelin trunk main flow test. INTEGRATING WATER SYSTEMS (pp 431-434)
- Discolouration risk management for trunk mains. 11th Annual International Symposium on Water Distribution Systems Analysis. Arizona, USA
- Water distribution system asset deterioration and impact on water quality - A case study. World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2008: Ahupua'a - Proceedings of the World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2008, Vol. 316
- Water quality in distribution systems: rehabilitation and maintenance strategies. ADVANCES IN WATER SUPPLY MANAGEMENT (pp 397-404)
- The impact of drinking water network model spatial and temporal scale on hydraulic metrics indicating discolouration risk. Proceedings - 2nd International Join Conference on Water Distribution System Analysis (WDSA)& Computing and Control in the Water Industry (CCWI), 18 July 2022 - 22 July 2022.
- Discovering Differences in Iron and Manganese Behaviour in Service Reservoirs. Proceedings - 2nd International Join Conference on Water Distribution System Analysis (WDSA)& Computing and Control in the Water Industry (CCWI), 18 July 2022 - 22 July 2022.
- The impact of hydraulic conditions upon drinking water distribution system biofilms. biofilms’ IWA Specialist Conference Biofilms in Drinking Water systems from treatment to tap. Arosa, Switzerland, 23 August 2015 - 26 August 2015.
- Biofilms and Discolouration Material Accumulation Processes in Drinking Water Distribution Systems and Modelling the Hydraulic. IWA Specialist Conference Biofilms in Drinking Water systems from treatment to tap. Arosa, Switzerland, 23 August 2015 - 26 August 2015.
- CCWI2017: F86 'DISCOLOURATION RISK MANAGEMENT AND CHLORINE WALL DECAY'
- Managing discolouration in drinking water distribution systems by integrating understanding of material behaviour. Water Research, 243. View this article in WRRO
- Grants