On February 13, 2014 the WaterInfoDag took place in the Netherlands. A conference and exhibition to inform visitors about developments in water management.

Rob Beun (sales engineer of Observator) gave a presentation at the WaterInfoDag about early detection of water pollutants with in-situ online measurements. Below a summary of this presentation:

The quality of ground water and surface water is constantly threatened by illegal discharges, sewage overflows, spills and runoff. To be able to track down the source of a pollution, it is important to detect the pollution as soon as possible

A range of sensors is available for autonomous field measurement of various water quality parameters. These sensors can be installed quickly and discretely and they operate for months without interruption. Thanks to mobile networks, the measurement results can be made available anywhere. Upon detection of pollution, an official can receive a message on his phone.

To detect a pollution, it is usually not necessary to measure the pollutant itself; the common parameters pH, Dissolved Oxygen, conductivity and turbidity suffice to indicate that ‘something’ is wrong. This is sufficient for generating an alarm, for tracing and maybe for taking measures to prevent further damage.