Active Contamination Detection

Active Contamination Detection in Water Distribution Systems is a methodology for altering the area monitored by water quality sensors in Water Distribution Systems (WDS) when there is suspicion of a contamination event. This methodology is based on the general concept in fault-diagnosis literature of active fault detection, in which the control input of a system is selected specifically to improve detectability of a fault. The proposed Active Contamination Detection (ACD) scheme manipulates WDS actuators, i.e. by closing and opening valves or by changing the set-points at pressure controlled locations, to drive flows from specific parts of the network in predetermined paths, and enable the sensors to monitor the quality of water from previously unobserved locations. As a consequence, the monitoring coverage of the sensors is increased and some contamination events occurring within those areas can be detected. The objective is to minimize the contamination impact by detecting the contaminant as soon as possible, while also maintaining the hydraulic requirements of the system. We demonstrate the ACD scheme on two networks and analyze the results.