Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring: Benefits for decision making

The report examines how high-frequency, real-time water quality monitoring can improve watershed management and decision-making, particularly in the Winnipeg River basin. It contrasts the advantages of automated sensors—such as rapid response to contamination and lower long-term cost per measurement—with limitations including sensor drift, maintenance costs, and data management burdens. Through case studies at the Powerview-Pine Falls drinking water facility and Lake 227, the document demonstrates the utility of real-time data for optimizing water treatment and tracking algal bloom dynamics.

• Networked in-situ monitoring systems provide significant advantages for decision-makers, including the ability to receive near-immediate alerts for water quality issues, which enables rapid response to events like chemical spills or harmful algal blooms.
• While automated sensors have high initial costs, the cost per individual measurement decreases over time, and they reduce the personnel and resource expenses associated with manual travel, collection, and analysis.
• Real-time monitoring is constrained by technical and logistical limitations, such as sensor susceptibility to biofouling and drift, the need for specialized cybersecurity for data transfers, and the requirement for significant computing power to store and process large datasets.
• Automated sensors are limited to a specific subset of measurable parameters, such as pH, temperature, and turbidity; many other water quality parameters still require manual sampling and in-person site visits to provide necessary contextual information.
• At the Powerview-Pine Falls drinking water treatment facility, the installation of a s::can spectro::lyser v2 allows for data recording every two minutes, which is critical because parameters like total organic carbon and turbidity can change dramatically within hours.
• On Lake 227, the use of an AquaTroll 600 sensor and AquaHive telemetry platform has enabled researchers to fill data gaps that occurred between bi-weekly manual site visits, which previously failed to fully capture seasonal dynamics.

APA

Saleh, T., & Stanley, M. (2023). Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring: Benefits for decision making. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-06/real-time-water-quality-monitoring.pdf

Chicago

Saleh, Thomas, and Madeline Stanley. Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring: Benefits for decision making. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2023. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-06/real-time-water-quality-monitoring.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Saleh |first1=Thomas |last2=Stanley |first2=Madeline |title=Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring: Benefits for decision making |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=June 2023 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-06/real-time-water-quality-monitoring.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{saleh2023realtime, author = {Saleh, Thomas and Stanley, Madeline}, title = {{Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring: Benefits for decision making}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2023}, month = jun, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-06/real-time-water-quality-monitoring.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }