Drinking water distribution systems in the U.S. are vulnerable to episodic contaminationevents (both unintentional and intentional). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) is conducting research to investigate the use of broad-spectrum online toxicitymonitors (OTMs) in distribution systems. This research was conducted at the EarlyWarning Systems Laboratory (EWSL) located at the EPA’s Test and Evaluation (T&E)Facility in Cincinnati, OH and is part of ongoing OTM research for source watermonitoring and watershed management. The data collected by the OTMs provides waterquality managers with continuous, time-relevant information regarding water qualitystatus. For the purposes of this testing, a pilot-scale distribution system simulator (DSS)available at the EPA T&E Facility collocated with the EWSL in Cincinnati, Ohio wasused. Contaminants were injected into the distribution system and a sample line from thedistribution system was connected to two OTMs to monitor their responses. Specifically,this paper presents the responses of luminescence bacteria Vibrio fischeri (as contained inthe microLAN Toxcontrol system) and fish Pimephales promelas (as contained in the bbeMoldaenke ToxProtect system) to two toxic contaminants: sodium fluoroacetate andpotassium cyanide under field conditions.
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