Determination of key sensor locations for non-point pollutant sources management in sewer network

As the importance of watershed management has emerged for water systems, non-point pollutant sources have been blamed as the main problem of water pollution. To control non-point pollutant sources, it is necessary to monitor sewers connected to the watershed and to analyze their effects on the sewer network. As the cost to monitor a sewer network depends on the number of sensors installed, the monitoring stations should be decided with proper guide of the installation location rule. In present paper, a new method to select the proper sensor location is proposed by combining monitoring information with data mining techniques. To estimate the amount of pollutants by wash-off and to find the sensor locations in a sewer network, three scenarios are considered based on rainfall intensity, influent concentrations and flow rate. The optimal locations of the sensor were selected based on the proposed method to facilitate the management of non-point pollutant source in sewer network. The presented approach can be extended to a complex sewer network system to design a minimum number of sensors and optimum locations for the sensors.