In the joint project 04 - AIX-WATCH entitled "Monitoring and monitoring technology including development of a validation methodology", a central point in wastewater reuse is being investigated - ensuring the quality and hygienic safety of the water treated for reuse. The aim of the joint project is to develop innovative monitoring and control concepts to ensure the hygienically safe decentralized reuse of wastewater streams (WWR, wastewater reuse) at different quality levels. At the same time, a focus is placed on the direct development of methods for the subsequent validation of WWR systems.
Online measurements of water quality are essential for continuous, targeted and cost-effective operational monitoring. It is important to note that online monitoring does not replace sampling and laboratory analysis, but supplements them. Regular laboratory analyses at defined intervals (e.g. once a month) must continue to confirm the quality of the cleaning performance. In addition to microbiological tests, which are usually carried out on random samples, other parameters such as BOD5 and TSS must be determined depending on the desired water quality and legal basis. In principle, the statements on performance and the correlation between pathogen elimination and online parameters of a system are only valid if the system is operated within the validated framework (defined system limits).
The operation of WWR systems requires both a high temporal resolution of information and measurement data for monitoring the discharge quality and consistent condition monitoring of the process and the installed sensors. It is important to note that the load situation of a WWR system that is installed decentrally in an urban district is subject to significantly greater fluctuations in volume flow and pollutant load than is the case with larger, centralized systems with large storage capacities and flow times of several hours in the sewer network. These fluctuations can have an impact on the discharge quality. Due to the short reaction times, e.g. during rain events, the operating and sensor information should be evaluated in real time wherever possible.