EXO Application Cases | Continuous Monitoring of Blue-Green Algae in Drinking Water Sources

Taihu Lake, Qiandao Lake, Danjiangkou Reservoir, etc. are all super-large drinking water sources in my country. After experiencing the water supply panic caused by the blue algae outbreak in Taihu Lake in 2007, the government and the public realized the urgency of taking effective management measures to reduce water algae pollution, and also recognized the importance of monitoring and early warning. Therefore, with the support of water special projects and other projects, including the above-mentioned super-large water sources, multiple multi-point water quality buoys and multi-level water quality profile buoys are built and operated mainly for harmful algal bloom monitoring, including other water quality indicators.

This is because a complete algae monitoring includes multiple factors, some of which are parameters of water quality itself, including nitrogen and phosphorus input and the release of dead algae and sediment in bottom sediments, and also include other related factors, such as photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), wind speed, wind direction and non-water parameters such as CO2.

Among the water quality parameters, the first thing to measure and monitor is the five water quality parameters, because they are closely related to the state, growth and extinction of algae. The figure briefly describes the relationship between the five parameters and algae.

The following example comes from a real and specific project of a water supply company in my country. The customer also faced the problem of odor. In order to understand and grasp the level of blue-green algae in the raw water and thus gain time for the production of tap water, managers required technical measures to be taken at the raw water (Xiangjiang River) stage.