Source Water Monitoring Case Studies And Solutions

Protecting the sources of drinking water is a key concern among water professionals. We rely on water for our most basic needs. As we have observed since the beginning of the industrial revolution, there are many threats to the quality of this water.

Global climate change is affecting ecosystems — some areas experience drought, some flooding, some experience both in devastating cycles — and the protection and efficient usage of source water becomes even more important.

Developing alongside this source water quality concern have been newer technologies that will help to address the issues. One way is through continuous monitoring which provides crucial data about the health of source water (measured through water quality parameters such as temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, pH, turbidity, chlorophyll, and others). Increasingly these systems can provide more highly resolved data at a near real-time pace. Monitoring stations located throughout a source water network — typically rivers, lakes, and reservoirs — produce an excellent, comprehensive view and help to identify particular areas of concern.