A contaminant detection system for early warning in water distribution networks

Water distribution systems are spatially diverse. As such, they are inherently vulnerable to accidental or deliberate physical, chemical, or biological threats. Efficient water quality monitoring is one of the most important tools to guarantee a reliable potable water supply. A methodology and two example applications for finding the optimal layout of a detection system, taking explicitly into account the dilution and decay properties of the water quality constituents as distributed with flow, as well as the ability of the monitoring equipment to detect contaminant concentrations, are formulated and demonstrated. The detection system outcome is aimed at capturing contaminant entries within a pre-specified level of service (LOS) defined as the maximum volume of polluted water exposure to the public at a concentration higher than a minimum hazard level. The proposed methodology couples hydraulic simulations with graph theory techniques to identify a minimum set of monitoring stations that ‘covers’ the entire network for a given LOS, at a maximum degree of system invulnerability. The model developed extends a previous work of the authors through explicitly considering the deterioration and dilution of water quality as distributed with flow, and by taking into account the monitoring equipment capabilities to detect pollutant concentrations. The methodology is demonstrated using two example applications.