Continuous monitoring of residual chlorine concentrations in response to controlled microbial intrusions in a laboratory-scale distribution system

The objective of this work was to evaluate the efficacy of deploying free chlorine sensors as surrogate monitors for bacterial contamination events in drinking water distribution systems. An on-line sensor integral with a laboratory-scale distribution system (LDS) was shown to respond rapidly to changes in residual free chlorine concentrations induced by injected loads of Escherichia coli suspended in a chlorine demand free buffer. The magnitude of the residual response was proportional to the injected cell concentration, the background free chlorine concentration in the LDS, and the contact time between the chlorine residual and the injected suspension, consistent with previous results in batch reactors. The magnitude of the residual response was predicted when kinetic models developed from reaction kinetics between free chlorine and E. coli determined in batch systems were evaluated at contact times determined from LDS hydraulics. This result highlights the suitability of using batch kinetics when modeling contaminant-induced chlorine decay in the distribution system. Modeling the propagation of chlorine demand signals generated by specific pathogens could aid in the assessment of distribution system vulnerability.