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When construction of Space Station Freedom reaches the Permanent Manned Capability stage, plans call for the Water Recovery and Management Subsystem to treat distilled urine, spent hygiene water, and humidity condensate in order to reclaim water of potable quality. The reclamation technologies currently baselined to process these wastewaters include adsorption, ion exchange, catalytic oxidation, and disinfection. To ensure that baselined technologies will be able to effectively remove those compounds that present health risks to the crew, the National Research Council has recommended that additional information be gathered on specific contaminants in wastewaters representative of those to be encountered on Space Station. This paper reports the efforts by the Water and Food Analytical Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center to enlarge the database of potential contaminants in humidity condensate.

Controlling microbial growth and biofilm formation in spacecraft water-distribution systems is necessary to protect the health of the crew. Methods to decontaminate the water system in flight may be needed to support long-term missions. ...The biofilms were developed by placing the coupons in a manifold attached to the effluent line of a simulated spacecraft water-distribution system. After biofilms were established, the coupons were removed and placed in a treatment manifold in a separate water treatment system where they were exposed to the chemical treatments for various periods.

Successful design and operation of a spacecraft water system is contingent upon consideration of traditional sanitary engineering principles in the context of unique mission requirements. ...However, the aerospace solution to the traditional terrestrial problem often requires an innovative design approach to succeed in the spacecraft environment. Future long duration space missions will require the same attention to basic principles, the same degree of innovation, and an extra measure of caution, because of the lack of terrestrial experience with direct human reuse of reclaimed water.

The ability of iodine to maintain microbial water quality in a simulated spacecraft water system is being studied. An iodine level of about 2.0 mg/L is maintained by passing ultrapure influent water through an iodinated ion exchange resin.

The ability of iodine to control microbial contamination and biofilm formation in spacecraft water distribution systems is being studied. Two stainless steel water subsystems are being used.

Two simulated spacecraft water systems are being used to evaluate the effectiveness of iodine for controlling microbial contamination within such systems.

This instrument is designed to monitor the quality of recycled potable water aboard spacecraft such as the International Space Station. Phase I involved selecting and validating methods for low mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) cations and anions by using a slightly modified commercial CE instrument as a model.

We are developing a drinking water test kit based on colorimetric-solid phase extraction (C-SPE) for use onboard the International Space Station (ISS) and on future Lunar and/or Mars missions. C-SPE involves measuring the change in diffuse reflectance of indicator disks following their exposure to a water sample. We previously demonstrated the effectiveness of C-SPE in measuring iodine in microgravity. This analytical method has now been extended to encompass the measurement of total I (i.e., iodine, iodide, and triiodide). This objective was accomplished by introducing an oxidizing agent to convert iodide and triiodide to iodine, which is then measured using the indicator disks previously developed for iodine. We report here the results of a recent series of C-9 microgravity tests of this method. The results demonstrate that C-SPE technology is poised to meet the total I monitoring requirements of the international space program.

This study also served as a basis for evaluating these instruments for in-flight spacecraft water-quality monitoring and to help determine the modifications needed to convert terrestrial hardware for use in microgravity environments.

Previous analyses of condensate derived from spacecraft and ground sources showed considerable variation in composition. Consequently, an investigation was conducted to collect condensate on the Shuttle while the vehicle was docked to Mir, and return the condensate to Earth for testing.

Potable- and hygiene-quality water will be supplied to crews on the International Space Station through the recovery and purification of spacecraft wastewaters, including humidity condensate, urine, and wash water. Contaminants released into the cabin air from human metabolism, hardware offgassing, flight experiments, and routine operations will be present in spacecraft humidity condensate; normal constituents of urine and bathing water will be present in urine and untreated wash water. ...Contaminants released into the cabin air from human metabolism, hardware offgassing, flight experiments, and routine operations will be present in spacecraft humidity condensate; normal constituents of urine and bathing water will be present in urine and untreated wash water.

Iodine depletion in a simulated water storage tank and distribution system was examined to support a larger research program aimed at developing disinfection methods for spacecraft potable water systems. The main objective of this study was to determine the rate of iodine depletion with respect to the surface area of the stainless steel components contacting iodinated water. ...Ramifications of these findings to the current Shuttle potable water system and the design of spacecraft water systems in general are discussed.

Colorimetric-solid phase extraction (C-SPE) is being developed as a method for in-flight monitoring of spacecraft water quality. C-SPE is based on measuring the change in the diffuse reflectance spectrum of indicator disks following exposure to a water sample.

Iodine is the disinfectant used in U.S. spacecraft potable water systems. Recent long-term testing on human subjects has raised concerns about excessive iodine consumption.

Phase separation is one of the most significant obstacles encountered during the development of analytical methods for water quality monitoring in spacecraft environments. Removing air bubbles from water samples prior to analysis is a routine task on earth; however, in the absence of gravity, this routine task becomes extremely difficult.

Several designs were pressure tested and found to withstand more than 3 atmospheres well in excess of typical spacecraft water or wastewater system pressures. The vessel's ability to be hard-filled permits unattended sample collection.

As part of the effort, a spacecraft TOC analyzer was developed to demonstrate the technology in microgravity and mitigate risks associated with its use on station.

Potable water supplies onboard the International Space Station (ISS) include both reclaimed water from treatment of atmospheric humidity condensate and stored water that is either Shuttle-transferred or ground-supplied. Space station medical operations requirements call for real-time monitoring of key water quality parameters, such as total organic carbon, total inorganic carbon, total carbon, pH, and conductivity, to ensure that crew health is protected from unsafe drinking water. A Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) designed to meet these requirements was developed as part of the Crew Health Care System and launched to the ISS in April of 2001. The initial design of the ISS TOCA was previously presented at this conference in 1998. The current design of the instrument includes an improved reagent system and upgraded software to enhance accuracy through the capability to measure organic contamination of the reagents and correct analytical results.

Space Station Freedom (SSF) will be operational for up to 30 years with missions lasting up to 180 days. Because of the need for large amounts of potable and hygiene water for the crews, it will not be practical to supply water from the ground (as was done for Skylab) or to generate water from fuel cells (as is done for the Shuttle). Hence, waste and metabolic waters will be reclaimed and recycled in SSF. Because of the unique nature of the water sources and the closed loop recycling processes, providing safe water will be a challenging task. Developing a program for the verification of SSF water quality to ensure crew health is the responsibility of NASA's Medical Sciences Division at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). This program is being implemented through the Environmental Health System (EHS). This paper will describe the strategy for the development of water quality criteria and standards, and the associated monitoring requirements.

The crews of Expeditions 12 and 13 aboard the International Space Station (ISS) continued to rely on potable water from two different sources, regenerated humidity condensate and Russian ground-supplied water. The Space Shuttle launched twice during the 12-months spanning both expeditions and docked with the ISS for delivery of hardware and supplies. However, no Shuttle potable water was transferred to the station during either of these missions. The chemical quality of the ISS onboard potable water supplies was verified by performing ground analyses of archival water samples at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Water and Food Analytical Laboratory (WAFAL). Since no Shuttle flights launched during Expedition 12 and there was restricted return volume on the Russian Soyuz vehicle, only one chemical archive potable water sample was collected with U.S. hardware and returned during Expedition 12. This sample was collected in March 2006 and returned on Soyuz 11.