Source Water Monitoring Case Studies & Solutions
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source water Case Studies & Solutions for long-term water quality monitoring of drinking water sources

Baseline Monitoring and Early Warning for Source Water Continuous monitoring provides timely data to help you address water quality issues before they escalate Protecting the sources of drinking water is a key concern among water professionals. We rely on water for our most basic needs. As we have observed since the beginning of the industrial revolution, there are many threats to the quality of this water. Global climate change is affecting ecosystems—some areas experience drought, some flooding, some experience both in devastating cycles—and the protection and efficient usage of source...

Case Studies Source Water Monitoring The case studies in this report are organized as follows: 1-4 10-11 Water Treatment Plants

1 Customer Class Environment Location Environmental Consultant for Federal Monitoring Agency Remote Freshwater Watershed Czech Republic Situation: A federal authority hired a water quality consultant to collect data in a remote watershed in the mountains. The watershed provides one-fifth of the country’s drinking water and is susceptible to acid rain created by sulphur dioxide emissions from nearby power generation plants. The watershed quality is also exacerbated by erosion and forest degradation in the mountains. Continuous monitoring reveals large fluctuations in pH levels relative to...

2 Customer Class Environment Location Environmental Consultant for Private Water Utility River United Kingdom Situation: A private water utility contracted a large engineering consultant to provide monitoring services for its source water in rivers and storage reservoirs. The utility has received special permits to extract water from local rivers in order to replenish the reservoir during a serious drought. However, it has to make certain that the extraction does not impact the rivers too severely, wherein dissolved oxygen levels cannot fall below 50% saturation. Technology: The consultant...

3 Customer Class Environment Location Safeguarding a water supply is achievable with the early warning benefits of unattended river monitoring systems Environmental Consultant for Federal Monitoring Agency Rivers Malaysia Situation: Working with a consulting company, the country’s Department of the Environment (DOE) gathers long-term trend data on water quality while also maintaining an early warning system to alert officials and water treatment operators of pollution discharges in key reaches of their river system. Drinking water for 24 million residents is provided mainly by this surface...

4 Customer Class Environment Location Municipal Monitoring Agency Rivers Midwestern City, USA Situation: A municipal water quality laboratory is responsible for delivering consistently high quality drinking water to a city with a growing population. Its water division draws water from three main sources, including two rivers with several open reservoirs. Throughout the large watershed agricultural runoff and heavy rainfall push chemicals into the water, affecting the quality of the raw water drawn into its three treatment plants. Technology: The lab identified a new technology that enabled...

5 Customer Class Environment Location Continuous monitoring is necessary in order to obtain an accurate record of the rapid changes in water quality conditions in natural environments Municipal Monitoring Agency Lake and Reservoir Midwestern City, USA Situation: A municipal water agency, in conjunction with the U.S. Geological Survey, monitors its secondary source of drinking water, a reservoir, to ensure its long-term environmental health. High concentrations of phosphorus in the sediment, blue-green algal blooms (influenced by nitrate run-off), and construction within the lake’s watershed...

6 Customer Class Environment Location Federal Water Resources Agency Reservoir Taiwan Situation: A federal water agency monitors an important drinking water reservoir that is prone to landslides during typhoon season, resulting in very high suspended sediment loads. Two to four times per year turbidity can spike from the usual 40 NTU to the 100,000 NTU range and choke the reservoir’s water treatment plant, which is equipped to handle water with no more than 3,000 NTU. Past events had caught water resource managers off-guard, resulting in plant closure and forcing citizens to rely on bottled...

7 Customer Class Environment Location Private Water Company Reservoir United Kingdom Situation: While the United Kingdom suffered through a serious drought, the country’s largest private water company was interested in increasing the efficiency of using its water resources. It holds drinking water in reservoirs with a minimum retention time of 10 days. This naturally affects some aspects of the water quality (sediment settles); however, the company wanted quantitative data to help it select which intakes, within the reservoirs, the highest quality water is located to draw from at any point...

8 Customer Class Environment Location Federal Monitoring Agency Lake and Reservoir Southwestern Region, USA Situation: In the U.S.’s driest state, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) monitors the state’s largest reservoir. Storm water and agricultural runoff, as well as treated wastewater effluent, enter the reservoir from several inflow points. This prompts concern over potential effects to reservoir water quality, such as large blue-green algal blooms—especially since some of the water is subsequently pumped to the municipal drinking water treatment plant. Above: Robust reservoir monitoring...

9 Customer Class Environment Location Municipal Monitoring Agency River and Reservoirs Western City, USA Situation: A municipal utility district needs to manage its large watershed to meet the growing demand for clean drinking water as well as balance demands for irrigation, long-term storage in case of drought, hydroelectric power, and fish habitat protection. The water supply originates with rain and snow melt in the mountains and flows to a main river and several reservoirs. Drinking water is distributed through a unique aqueduct system. Real-time data from a buoymounted Vertical...