AWWA JAW65739

Timely deployment of contaminant warning systems requires on-line sensors and advancement of data analysis and decision support systems to accurately detect water quality changes. Many utilities are beginning to install on-line water quality sensors or are expanding their current on-line monitoring capabilities. As more and more data from these systems become available, various algorithms to extract useful information from them are being developed. These new algorithms must be quantitatively evaluated in order to understand their capabilities and limitations as well as to determine whether they provide added value. This study was prompted by the need to evaluate the performance of new algorithms for the detection of changes in water quality. In addition to being assessed on how well they identified water quality changes, algorithms were also assessed on how few false alarms they generated. The results of this study are likely to affect approaches to distribution system security with respect to a possible accidental or deliberate contamination event. The steps necessary for evaluating detection tools are detailed using both previously collected data and simulated events. Includes 28 references, tables, figures.