Water Security Monitoring: Overview of Currently Available Technologies

摘要

Many of the same monitoring systems used by utilities to com ply with the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act can also be used for water security monitoring - helping identify sudden changes in water quality that could indicate a threat to water safety. A variety of new technologies are also coming on the market. Some sensors, such as sensors for biological organisms or radiological contaminants, measure potential contamination directly, while others, particularly some chemical monitoring systems, measure "surrogate" parameters that may indicate problems in the system but do not identify sources of contamina tion directly. Chemical sensors that can be used to identify potential threats to water systems include inorganic monitors (chlorine analyzers), organic monitors (total organic carbon analyzers) and toxicity meters. Radiological meters can be used to measure concentrations of several different radioactive species. Monitors that use biological species also can be used as sentinels for the presence of contaminants of concern, such as toxics.