AWWA WSC63709

In order to provide effective early warning of a contamination event in drinking water, the technology used must produce credible and timely information that supports the decision making process of the operator. Recent testing and evaluation by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has shown that it is feasible to integrate technology solutions to monitor multiple parameters that define water quality. Extrapolating this concept to practical use in the field has resulted in a complete integrated water quality remote monitoring system that detects and reports to an operations center the evidence of contamination in real time on a continuous basis. In drinking water systems with a limited number of sources of water, the water quality should remain predictable, but where the system is served by multiple and diverse sources, it may be normal for the water quality in certain areas to vary daily. The value of the information gleaned from a baseline monitoring approach will be greatly enhanced by saturating (providing complete coverage of) the distribution system with water quality monitoring systems. There is no single device that can provide all the desired contamination information (chemical, biological, and radiological), so an integrated, economical, and modular "early warning" system to monitor and analyze water quality remotely has been designed. This cost-effective solution will provide complete coverage of the area of concern by designing and installing the remote monitoring system in "tiers". Tiers 1, 2, and 3 will function with the following progressive capabilities: detect and in some cases classify chemical, biological, and radiological contaminants in drinking water distribution systems; operate in a continuous, on line fashion that provides an immediate warning directly to a decision maker; identify where the contamination occurs within the system and track the movement of it throughout the system; and, verify the contamination event, and, potentially identify the contaminants. The system can be modified to meet each utility's need versus budget. Tier 1 provides detection and notification of a potential contamination. This module is designed for general and pervasive, monitoring. Tier 1 monitoring sites have inexpensive, but sensitive sensors that react to a broad range of contaminants, and because of the low cost, the sensors can be deployed to cover the distribution system. A group of Tier 1 sites will make up a "domain", based on hydraulics of the system, geography, and criticality of sensitive areas. The Tier 1 sites report water quality data to the Remote Data Acquisition and Processing Unit (RDAPU) at the Tier 2 site. The RDAPU monitors and "governs" a specific domain. The Tier 2 site acquires the data from Tier 1 sites in its domain, communicates critical information to the operations center, and provides greatly enhanced detection capability and a level of verification. Tier 3 is designed to verify the contamination and identify the contaminant. Tier 3 will provide confirmation of the event and identify the contaminant within 2 hours of the initial detection. Includes tables, figure.