The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority (PWSA) has been actively involved in thedevelopment of a Contamination Warning System (CWS) for its river water intake and finishedwater distribution system for the past several years. PWSA's CWS gathers information from avariety of sources including continuous online analytical monitors, routine sample collection andlaboratory analysis, customer complaints, public health information from a regional syndromicsurveillance system, security information from local law enforcement, and intelligence fromnational sources such as the Water ISAC and INFRAGARD. The PWSA CWS also includes arobust consequence management program for response to contamination alerts triggered by thevarious water quality, public health, and security monitors. This response includes the use of anumber 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, ICWaterand PipelineNet. A major effort in PWSA's development of a comprehensive CWS continues tobe extensive onsite evaluation of commercially available technology for online monitoring andrapid field testing. This paper describes Pittsburgh's progress, to date, in developing a robustsource water and distribution network Contamination Warning System. Includes 7 references, table, figures.
