The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) has been actively involved in the
development of a Contamination Warning System (CWS) for its river water intake and finished
water distribution system for the past several years. PWSA's CWS gathers information from a
variety of sources including continuous online analytical monitors, routine sample collection and
laboratory analysis, customer complaints, public health information from a regional syndromic
surveillance system, security information from local law enforcement, and intelligence from
national sources such as the Water ISAC and INFRAGARD. The PWSA CWS also includes a
robust consequence management program for response to contamination alerts triggered by the
various water quality, public health, and security monitors. This response includes the use of a
number of rapid analytical tests that can be performed in the field or quickly in the laboratory,
standard analyses in PWSA's State certified laboratory, immediate access to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA's) WCIT
(Water Contaminant Information Tool), and use of USEPA's hydraulic security models, ICWater
and PipelineNet. A major effort in PWSA's development of a comprehensive CWS continues to
be extensive onsite evaluation of commercially available technology for online monitoring and
rapid field testing. This paper describes Pittsburgh's progress, to date, in developing a robust
source water and distribution network Contamination Warning System. Includes 7 references, table, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 580 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 16 |
| Published : | 11/01/2007 |
