Monitoring The Future With The Latest Sensor Tech

Doctors have their stethoscopes, plumbers have their wrenches, and accountants have their calculators. More often than we would care to admit, professionals are only as good as their tools. For water utilities, staying on top of water quality means taking advantage of the cutting edge in sensor technologies.

To get a handle on the latest in sensing technologies, Water Online spoke with Dr. Corina Carpentier, a water quality monitoring expert and member of the O2 Environmental Technology Assessment Group. She highlighted recent advances in bringing sensor data online, acknowledged the challenges utilities face when trying to adopt innovations at their plants, and offered a glimpse into the future of a rising market.

What are the latest developments in sensor technology?

The aim of sensor technology in the past was to bring laboratory analyses to the water side or to the production plant. Nowadays, the focus is more on monitoring rapid deviations in water quality. Since the introduction of the first online sensors, several generations of new and better sensors have become commercially available. Recently, the idea of smart-grid sensor networks has been developed. Distributed sensor networks monitor a catchment, sewer system, or drinking water distribution and provide a stakeholder with high-density data which is converted to useful information with the help of sophisticated data management software.

How do smart-grid systems take the next step in online sensing technology?

The development of online sensors has hitherto largely been focused on better precision and greater accuracy. In smart-grid applications, however, there is no need for high precision and accuracy. Detection of anomalies in water quality can be achieved with less precise sensors for which accuracy is not an issue. As a consequence, the price per sensor will drop dramatically in the near future and this will accelerate the implementation of smart-grid applications with large numbers of sensors.

How should the introduction of smart-grid technology influence current strategies?

Due to smart-grid developments, monitoring strategies are developing more and more in the direction of chain concepts. New strategies combine the advantages of laboratory analyses and online, sensor-based monitoring. As soon as an anomaly is detected, automatic samplers take a sample. To determine the cause of an anomaly, the sample is taken to a laboratory to be investigated using highly sophisticated analysis techniques. In the meantime, a stakeholder can take measures to protect the production process or environment.

This chain concept for water quality monitoring fits very well with the risk-based approach as developed by the World Health Organization, which is in the process of being implemented in European drinking water legislation. In the food sector, the very similar Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points approach has been common practice for a number of years. Thus, the chain concept in water quality monitoring is also supported by legislative requirements.

Do you think water utilities are aware of what the latest sensor technologies are capable of? Are you seeing users take full advantage of the capabilities?

Generally, water utilities are making limited use of the possibilities that online sensors offer. Implementation of such equipment remains limited to a small number of basic parameters and is still confined to key nodes in collection, treatment, and distribution systems. A primary hurdle to further realization of the potential of online monitoring is the lack of publicly available information on system performance, on key drivers, and on barriers to successful implementation.

In 2013 and 2014, a study was performed to identify and document information on commercially available instrument types, associated capital and operating costs, and real-world experiences with the use of sensors in the global water and wastewater industries. This study found that harnessing the capabilities of sensors is a complicated process which includes much more than the selection, purchase, and installation of an instrument.

How can a utility find the online monitoring solution that is right for them?

The number of instruments available for online monitoring of water quality is vast; over 250 manufacturers provide instruments for automated, online measurement of well over 100 water quality parameters.

Finding an instrument that suits the needs of a particular end-user in a specific application is a daunting task. There are a number of technical and organizational issues to be addressed properly to deliver what is desired, including putting in place a well-organized quality assurance and quality control process as well as procedures for data handling and decision-making. It requires embedding and support throughout the organization of a utility.

These factors help in preventing disillusionment with the instrumentation that all too often follows after ill-conceived forays into online monitoring. Operation and maintenance are recurring issues, necessary more often than initially assumed. The costs for maintenance and calibration can and often do exceed those of initial equipment acquisition.

What metrics indicate that this is a growing market?

According to the Water Analysis Instrumentation report as prepared by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., the global market for water analysis instrumentation is expected to grow to $3.6 billion by 2020. A major driver for this increase in the coming years will be the ubiquity of water testing for residential, commercial, and industrial uses.

Europe represents the largest market worldwide. The Asian-Pacific region is the fastest-growing market as a result of rising environmental concerns, enforcement of water regulations, a growing population, and an increasing need for safe drinking water. This will lead to an increase in certified laboratories for the analysis of drinking water contaminants.

Laboratory-based water analysis instrumentation currently represents the largest product market, but online systems form the fastest-growing market segment at 7.6 percent per year.