Water quality compliance monitoring that catches an exceedance the hour it happens and sees low chlorine two days ahead
Exceedances caught the hour they happen, and low chlorine seen two days ahead.
See one case, screen by screen ↓A drinking water network's results live in three places on three clocks: the online analysers report to the control room every 5 minutes, the samplers' field kits sync on the day, and the laboratory releases certificates a day or more after the sample was taken. Nobody sees one picture of a sampling point against its licence limits. An exceedance is noticed when someone reads the lab report — often the next working morning — while the 24-hour repeat-sample and notification clocks have been running since the result was released.
Low residual at the far end of the network is the hardest to see coming. When a reservoir is held high for maintenance or demand drops, water age climbs at a dead-end spur and the chlorine decays with it, and the first anyone knows is a routine sample that fails: a licence breach, a notification, repeat sampling and sometimes advice to customers. Raising the dose everywhere is not the answer either, because it pushes up disinfection by-products such as TTHM nearer the works. The decision needs the residual, the by-products and the cost on one screen.
Estimated split for one bacteria detection at a routine sampling point, in hours from the laboratory releasing the result, by hand and with the solution.
Six agents collect, check, forecast and draft; the water quality manager approves every action.
Lumina Utilities supplies its network from the Coralstone Desalination Plant (seawater reverse osmosis, 260 ML/d) and the Ashvale Water Treatment Works (groundwater, 85 ML/d) through four supply zones — Harbour, Central, Tern Point and Kestrel Bay. It is Tuesday 13 October 2026, 07:10. Here is what happens next, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Hana owns every exceedance on the network. Her first screen is the map: 26 sampling points with results in the last 24 hours and 38 analysers reporting every 5 minutes, each point's latest results drawn as bars against its limits. Points near a limit pulse, and pipes are shaded by water age from 0 to 7 days. The watch list on the right already holds a low chlorine forecast at Saltmarsh Lane and a coliform result at Harbour Quay.
“October so far: 642 of 642 samples taken on time · 617 of 618 results inside every limit”
The time scrubber runs Now, +12 h, +24 h, +36 h and +48 h, and redraws the chlorine bars from the forecast. At Wednesday 19:10 the bar at SP-388 Saltmarsh Lane — the dead end of the Gannet Hill spur in Kestrel Bay — drops under its line. The analyser there reads 0.24 mg/L now; the forecast is below the limit from Wednesday 07:00, lowest 0.18 mg/L at 19:00.
On the map: “Forecast 0.18 mg/L · below the 0.2 limit” — and the next routine sample is Thu 08:30.
Ridgeback Reservoir has been held at 92 % since Friday for the Mill Cross pump overhaul (WO-58817), and demand is down 11 % in the cooler weather. Water age at Saltmarsh Lane rises from 6.0 days now to 7.2 days by Wednesday evening, from the 06:00 hydraulic run. On this spur chlorine decays at 0.225 per day, fitted from 41 grab samples and six weeks of analyser KB-CL2 (R² 0.91), and Monday's grab sample already read 0.26 mg/L.
“The next routine sample here is Thu 08:30: without an action it would be the first anyone knew.”
The forecast covers every far-end point for the next 48 hours, with water age, decay per day and confidence. Saltmarsh Lane is the one below 0.2. Dune End (0.20) and the Gannet Hill booster outlet (0.21) sit on the same spur; Marina Gate, Bayview Terrace and the rest need nothing. Harbour Quay's chlorine is normal at 0.46 — its problem is bacteria, EX-1041.
“Alerts need a confidence of R² 0.80 or more” — below it, the forecaster asks for a sample instead.
The planner finds what can act on the spur — the Gannet Hill booster on standby, hydrant H-2291, the routine sample — and models each option. Booster dose: +0.25 mg/L from 08:00, reaching the end at about 01:00 Wednesday, low 0.39 mg/L, TTHM 55 µg/L (+3, limit 80), no water to waste, about 9 kg of hypochlorite a day. Flushing H-2291: 140 m³ to waste and a crew for 3 hours, and the residual is still below 0.2 from 07:00 to about 09:00 on Wednesday, before the crew's fresh water reaches the end. Doing nothing: below 0.2 for about two days.
Do nothing: “The Thursday sample would likely read below 0.2 mg/L: a licence breach, a notification to the regulator within 24 hours, repeat sampling and, if it persisted, advice to customers on the spur.”
She approves +0.25 mg/L at the Gannet Hill booster from 08:00 today, until Ridgeback Reservoir is back to its normal level. The setpoint request goes to Tomasz Wren in the control room, who applies it. Her note travels with it, and the approval is recorded on the audit trail with the forecast it answers.
“Gannet Hill to +0.25 mg/L from 08:00. Hold until WO-58817 is closed and Ridgeback is back below 80%. Call me if the outlet reads above 0.6.”
Tomasz confirms the setpoint. The residual forecaster re-runs the forecast with the booster dose in it: the lowest residual at Saltmarsh Lane is now 0.39 mg/L on Wednesday at 19:00, Dune End 0.44 and the Gannet Hill outlet 0.45. The sampling scheduler puts an extra grab sample on Sam Ofori's Route 4 for Wednesday 10:00 to prove it.
Approvals: Hana Rahimi “Approved 07:21” · Tomasz Wren “Confirmed 07:31” · Sam Ofori “On the route”
Back on the map at +36 h, the Saltmarsh Lane bar reads 0.39 mg/L and the watch list marks the spur as fixed: “booster dose running”. The strip at the bottom now reads “0 breach forecast”. No sample failed, so there is nothing to notify.
“Booster dose at Gannet Hill running from 08:00. Lowest forecast tomorrow now 0.39 mg/L (was 0.18).”
Earlier that morning, Lumina Central Laboratory released certificate LC-2610-4471 for SP-134 Harbour Quay: 2 coliform bacteria per 100 mL, E. coli not detected, free chlorine 0.46 mg/L. At 05:53 the limit checker opened EX-1041 and started the 24-hour repeat clock. At 05:54 the sampling scheduler put three repeats — the site, SP-130 upstream and SP-136 downstream — first on Owen Marsh's Route 2, leaving 09:30. At 05:55 Hana was texted as on-call manager.
Suggested cause: the sample tap in the Harbour Quay kiosk was last disinfected on 14 Aug — “disinfect the tap before the repeat”.
The report writer drafted the notification at 06:30 from the exceedance record: what was found, where and when, the certificate, the three repeats and the tap disinfection. Leila reads it beside the minute-by-minute timeline and signs and sends it through the regulator portal, with the receipt saved to the record.
“You are sending the EX-1041 notification to the regulator as Leila Haddad, compliance officer.”
The same Tuesday morning, seen by the five people who own it — what their day looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six agents collect, check, forecast and draft; the water quality manager approves every action.
Reads the online analysers every 5 minutes, the laboratory certificates on every release and the samplers' field kits on every sync; matches each result to its sampling point, parameter, unit and time, converts units, and flags an analyser drifting more than 0.05 mg/L from the latest grab sample.
Compares every new result with its limit and alert level in licence Schedule 2. Outside a limit, it opens an exceedance, starts its repeat-sample and notification clocks and texts the on-call manager; at alert level, it adds the point to the watch list.
After each hydraulic run and each new chlorine result, fits chlorine decay for each supply path from the last 90 days of grab samples and analysers, takes water age for the next 48 hours from the hydraulic model and forecasts free chlorine at every point with a confidence band — including any approved action.
For a forecast or a real breach, finds the boosters, hydrants and routine samples that can act on the path, models each option's effect on residual, TTHM and HAA5 running averages, water to waste, crew time and cost, recommends one with its reasons and drafts the setpoint request.
Keeps the sampling plan — 1,488 samples at 186 points in October — adds repeat and extra samples and puts them on the samplers' routes.
Drafts the monthly return as results arrive — samples scheduled and taken, results by parameter, results outside a limit and the actions taken, preventive actions — and a notification for every exceedance from its record.
Approves; compliance officer signs. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask about any sampling point, result, forecast or return — or say what to schedule. Every answer points to its certificate, reading or model run.
Why will Saltmarsh Lane fall below 0.2 tomorrow?
Because the water there is getting older. Ridgeback Reservoir is held at 92% for the Mill Cross pump overhaul and demand is down 11%, so water age at Saltmarsh Lane rises from 6.0 to 7.2 days by Wednesday evening. Chlorine decays at 0.225 per day on that spur (R² 0.91), and Monday's sample was already 0.26 mg/L. The forecast is 0.19 mg/L from Wed 07:00 and 0.18 at 19:00, below the 0.2 minimum.
Schedule a booster dose at Gannet Hill
Prepared for you to approve: +0.25 mg/L at Gannet Hill from 08:00. Water reaches Saltmarsh Lane in about 17 hours, so the forecast low becomes 0.39 mg/L instead of 0.18. TTHM there rises about 3 µg/L to 55, well inside the 80 limit. I cannot change a setpoint: you approve, and Tomasz Wren applies it.
What do we owe the regulator for the Harbour Quay coliform?
Two things, both inside 24 hours of the lab result at 05:52: three repeat samples — at the site, upstream at Old Dock Street and downstream at Pier Row — and a notification. The repeats are on Owen Marsh's Route 2, leaving at 09:30. The notification is drafted for Leila Haddad to sign. E. coli was not detected and chlorine was normal, so the sample tap is the likely cause.
How are we doing against the limits this month?
October to 12 Oct: 642 of 642 samples taken on time; 617 of 618 results inside every limit. The one outside is the coliform detection at Harbour Quay (EX-1041). Lowest chlorine so far: 0.26 mg/L at Saltmarsh Lane. One breach is forecast for tomorrow, at Saltmarsh Lane.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
Limits, alert levels, the forecast, the clocks and who approves are settings, versioned and changed by two people.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Free chlorine minimum and alert level | 0.20 mg/L · alert at 0.30 mg/L | Alert level stepped up or down; limits for every parameter from licence Schedule 2, version 7 |
| Forecast horizon | 48 hours | 24 hours · 48 hours · 72 hours |
| Forecast runs | Hourly | Every 30 minutes · Hourly · Every 6 hours — and after every hydraulic run and new result |
| Minimum confidence to alert | R² 0.80 | Stepped up or down — below it, the forecaster asks for a sample instead |
| Repeat samples after a coliform detection | 3 within 24 hours | Licence rule — at the site, upstream and downstream |
| Regulator notification | Leila Haddad | Leila Haddad · Priya Nair — within 24 hours of the laboratory result, signed by the compliance officer |
| Approves network actions | Hana Rahimi | Hana Rahimi · Duty water quality scientist — booster doses, flushing, extra sampling |
| Text the on-call manager | On | On · Off — for any bacteria detection or a breach forecast within 24 hours |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample network data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (EPA, National Enforcement and Compliance Initiative, drinking water: in FY2022 43.2 % of US community water systems violated at least one standard and 29.6 % had a monitoring or reporting violation). Regulatory context: WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality (at least 0.2 mg/L free chlorine at the point of delivery); 40 CFR 141.72; 40 CFR 141 Subpart Y (repeat samples within 24 hours); Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule (TTHM 80 µg/L). Lumina Utilities, its plants, places and records, and the people named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Software that brings a drinking water utility's analyser, laboratory and field results together and checks every one against its licence limits as it arrives. Water Quality Compliance Monitoring puts every sampling point on one map, opens an exceedance with its clock the minute a result is outside a limit, forecasts residual chlorine 48 hours ahead and drafts the returns. The water quality manager approves every action; the compliance officer signs what goes to the regulator.
The residual forecaster fits how fast chlorine decays on each supply path from the last 90 days of grab samples and analysers, and takes water age at every point for the next 48 hours from the hydraulic model. In the sample network it forecast 0.18 mg/L at Saltmarsh Lane for Wednesday evening, below the 0.2 limit, because a reservoir held high for pump work pushed water age to 7.2 days. Each forecast shows its confidence, and approved actions are fed back into it.
The results collector reads the laboratory certificates on every release and the analysers every 5 minutes, and the limit checker compares each result with its limit straight away. In the sample case the lab released a coliform result at 05:52; EX-1041 was opened at 05:53 with its 24-hour clock, three repeats were on a route at 05:54 and the on-call manager was texted at 05:55.
Yes. The sampling scheduler adds three repeat samples within 24 hours — at the site, upstream and downstream — and puts them first on that day's route. It never removes or moves a required sample outside its window.
The report writer drafts the monthly return as results arrive and a notification for every exceedance from its record, with every figure linked to its laboratory certificate or analyser reading. It never submits: the compliance officer signs and sends.
Yes. The action planner compares a booster dose, flushing and an extra sample and recommends one, but it never sends a setpoint. The water quality manager approves every action, the control room operator applies it, and agents never change a dose, a limit or a laboratory result.
Yes. Limits and alert levels per parameter, the forecast horizon, how often it runs, the minimum confidence to alert, who approves network actions, who signs notifications and when the on-call manager is texted are all settings. Every change is versioned and needs a second person.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your licence limits, sampling plan, analyser and laboratory feeds and hydraulic model — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on a sample of your own results first.
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