Detection and understanding of water quality events in the drinking water supply network of Barcelona, Spain

Abstract

This study is born of the observation of events recorded by a sensor installed in a domestic water network of a building. The aim was to study the consequences of these alterations and find if the water quality inside the buildings differs from the water quality in the city network using different parameters as a threshold of that. Two sensors have been used: one in the pipe inside a building and the other in the general pipe (to control water quality of Poblenou network, in Barcelona city). The parameters worked are: conductivity, free chlorine, turbidity, temperature, colour, total organic carbon, pressure and flow. With these measurements, different behaviours have been defined according to each parameter and all data that did not follow a trend were classified as events. A total of 20 events were analysed and classified according to whether the alteration was due to an internal incident in the building or an external incident from the city network. Therefore, alterations in the parameters can be a consequence of an increase of temperature, the number of people using the water at certain time (water demand), the water origin, a change of pressure or flow in the building or an internal dragging in the pipes inside the building. This study allows to know the alterations that can occur in the quality control parameters inside and outside a building. In this way, it increases the control of the water that reaches the consumers and their quality