AWWA WQTC62386

Drinking water distribution systems reach the majority of American homes, business andcivic areas, and are therefore an attractive target for terrorist attack via directcontamination, or backflow events.Instrumental monitoring of such systems may be used to signal the presence ofcontaminants in drinking water. There is a need to understand how and ifinstrumentation can be used to sense contaminant introduction. Tests of instrumentswere run on a simulated distribution system at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency(USEPA) Test and Evaluation (T&E) Facility in Cincinnati, Ohio, using potential chemicalthreat agents.There is a need to process data in real time to provide an early warning of the change ofwater quality due to the presence of contaminants. There is also a need to provide anindication of what classification (group or class) of chemical may be present in the watersample.Data from the USEPA tests were passed through a set of Hach Homeland SecurityTechnology (HST) algorithms to determine if such alarm outputs could be obtained. Theresults show that the milligram-per-liter (mg/L) concentrations of chemicals yieldedenough response to provide an early warning alarm. The results may also be useful inclassifying and estimating the chemical concentration in the water sample. Includes 6 references, figures.

Product Details

Edition:

Vol. - No.

Published:

11/01/2005

Number of Pages:

22

File Size:

1 file , 420 KB