Contamination event diagnosis in drinking water networks: A review

Water distribution systems are susceptible to contamination events, which can occur due to naturally occurring events, accidents or even malicious attacks. When a contamination event occurs, dangerous substances infiltrating the network may be consumed thereby deteriorating the consumers’ health and possibly affecting the economy. Advances in sensor and actuator technologies are enabling water networks to become smarter and more resilient to these types of events. This paper provides a broad review of the theoretical, modeling, and computational developments in the area of contamination event diagnosis for water distribution systems. Research is segmented into three main tasks, summarized as “Preparedness”, “Event Detection and Isolation” and “Emergency Event Management”. The key research topics from each task are described within a unified systems-theoretic mathematical framework, and their open challenges are discussed.