在宾夕法尼亚州，该州1200万居民中约有800万人从329个地表水处理厂获得水。本研究评估了这些工厂的一部分的性能，以及它们是否准备好满足联邦强化地表水处理规则的浊度处理技术要求。作者使用75个过滤装置，审查了关键水质、设计和操作变量，以确定它们对过滤水浊度的影响。除了不使用混凝剂、服务人口少于3300人或使用溪流作为水源的植物外，任何变量与过滤水浊度之间都没有很强的统计相关性。尽管存在系统规模小、设备老化或水源水浊度高等限制，但许多工厂仍能持续达到非常低的浊度水平。这项研究的结果表明，无形变量（如实现低浊度的承诺、操作员技能水平和操作员注意力）似乎比有形变量（如水源水质、所有权类型、工厂年龄、混凝剂类型和其他操作或设计因素）更重要。 包括10个参考文献、表格和图表。

In Pennsylvania, approximately 8 million of the state's 12 million residents receive water from 329 surface water treatment plants. This study evaluated the performance of a subset of these plants and whether they are prepared to meet the turbidity treatment technique requirements of the federal Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule. Using 75 filter plants, the authors reviewed key water quality, design and operational variables to determine their influences on filtered water turbidity. Except for plants that did not use a coagulant, served populations less than 3,300 or used streams for a water source, there was no strong statistical correlation between any of the variables and filtered water turbidity. Many plants were able to consistently achieve very low turbidity levels despite limitations such as small system size, plant age or high source water turbidity. The results of this study indicate that intangible variables such as commitment to achieving low turbidity, operator skill level and operator attention appear to be more important than tangible variables such as source water quality, ownership type, plant age, coagulant type, and other operational or design factors. Includes 10 references, tables, figures.