This research
is a first step to address the
challenge of detecting a large number
of potential contaminants in a drinking
water distribution system in real
time. The basic premise of this research
is that readily available and
relatively inexpensive equipment can be used to determine in real time
when contamination has occurred in
a distribution system, with the intent
being to provide an early warning so
that public health may be protected.
Experiments were conducted with
actual distribution system water
using both batch and continuous-flow
data collection. After determining
the baseline water quality in
real-time online instruments, model
contaminants were added to batch- and
pilot-scale distribution systems to
determine the level of detection with
different water quality parameters. Data were collected once per
minute using datalogger software,
collecting more than 16,000 data
points. These data were used to
determine what represents "normal"
water quality in the distribution system
and to estimate the population
standard deviation. In addition, some
general information about the distribution
of the data was provided
as well as summary statistics. The results of this research indicate
that routine monitoring can be
used in the distribution system to
detect a range of contaminants in
real time, potentially providing adequate
early warning to take appropriate
action and protect public
health. In addition to detecting
intentional threat contaminants in
a distribution system, real-time
monitoring offers the secondary
benefit of providing valuable water
quality data that may be key to
detecting routine water quality
compromises associated with line
breaks, backflow events, treatment
plant failures, or seasonal biofilm
sloughing. This four-page summary provides a general
overview of the complete text of this article, which is
available online in e-JOURNAL AWWA at
www.awwa.org/communications/journal/2005/july. Includes 9 references.
| Edition : | Vol. 97 - No. 7 |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 64 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 4 |
| Published : | 07/01/2005 |
