Citation:

Haxton, T., K. Klise, D. Laky, R. Murray, C. Laird, AND J. Burkhardt. Evaluating Manual Sampling Locations for Regulatory and Emergency Response. JOURNAL OF WATER RESOURCES PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT. American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Reston, VA, 147(12):04021081, (2021). https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0001473

Impact/Purpose:

Drinking water utilities need to quickly determine if a contamination incident is occurring. Sampling is an approach that could help confirm a contamination incident in the distribution system. This work describes an approach for evaluating the effectiveness of regulatory sampling locations during an emergency response situation. The approaches used in the paper identify optimal sampling locations for regulatory and emergency response purposes and then evaluates those locations using a water distribution system model. The problem formulations developed in the research could help water utilities more effectively select sampling locations during an emergency. Anyone interested in assisting drinking water utilities in responding to contamination incidents would benefit from this work, in particular water utility staff using water distribution models.

Description:

Drinking water utilities deliver high-quality, potable water to consumers. However, they could be at risk for potential accidental or intentional contamination incidents in the distribution system. Research showed the potential benefit of continuous, online sensors to monitor water quality for the detection of contamination incidents, but many utilities rely on manual sampling to confirm these emergencies. In this paper, the effectiveness of regulatory sampling locations for emergency response was explored. An optimization formulation based on the work of Lee and Deininger (1992) was used to identify manual sampling locations to maximize overall nodal coverage of the system. Results showed that sampling locations could be effective in confirming incidents for which they were not designed. When evaluating sampling locations optimized for emergency response against regulatory scenarios, the average performance was reduced by 3-4%, while using optimized regulatory sampling locations for emergency response reduced performance by 7-10%. Secondary constraints were also included in the formulation to ensure geographical and water age diversity with minimal impact on the performance. This work highlighted that regulatory sampling locations could have some value in responding to an emergency.

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