Development of an Environmental Decision Support System for Enhanced Coagulation in Drinking Water Production

Abstract

Drinking water production is subject to multiple water quality requirements such as minimizing disinfection byproducts (DBPs) formation, which are highly related to natural organic matter (NOM) content. For water treatment, coagulation is a key process for removing water pollutants and, as such, is widely implemented in drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) facilities worldwide. In this context, artificial intelligence (AI) tools can be used to aid decision making. This study presents an environmental decision support system (EDSS) for coagulation in a Mediterranean DWTP. The EDSS is structured hierarchically into the following three levels: data acquisition, control, and supervision. The EDSS relies on influent water characterization, suggesting an optimal pH and coagulant dose. The model designed for the control level is based on response surface methodology (RSM), targeted to optimize removal for the response variables (turbidity, total organic carbon (TOC), and UV254). Results from the RSM model provided removal percentages for turbidity (64.6%), TOC (21.9%), and UV254 (30%), which represented an increase of 4%, 33%, and 28% as compared with the DWTP water sample. Regarding the entire EDSS, 62%, 21%, and 25% of turbidity, TOC, and UV254 removal were fixed as the optimization criteria. Supervision rules (SRs) were included at the top of the architecture to intensify process performance under specific circumstances.