气候变化领域集成服务门户

This article describes the US Environmental Protection Agency's new cost modeling approach to developing unit costs for drinking water technologies. The technique uses a work breakdown structure (WBS), which involves dividing technology into discrete components for the purpose of estimating unit costs. The article demonstrates the application of this approach for three specific technologies that are effective at removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from drinking water: packed-tower aeration, multistage bubble aeration, and granular activated carbon. The article gives example outputs for these three WBS technology models for the removal of trichloroethylene, which, among the regulated VOCs, occurs most commonly in drinking water. The WBS models were designed for the purpose of estimating the national costs of drinking water regulations. As such, they are intended to be transparent and versatile.