SCC-CIVIC-PG Track B: Remote Monitoring of Small Rural Water Systems to Ensure Safe Drinking Water through Disasters and Natural Recovery

More than 45,000 community water systems in the US are small, each providing water to up to 10,000 people. These systems, which provide a vital supply of potable water to mostly rural communities, are faced with many challenges which are made harder by natural disasters and pandemics such as COVID-19. To better protect these water systems, including during emergency scenarios, this project will develop and test tools to check the status as of these water systems remotely as well and to support the operators who run the systems.

This planning project is a collaboration between academic and local government partners to develop and pilot these remote sanitary inspection tools and water quality monitoring systems while at the same time increasing access to skilled personnel in small community water systems.

The goal of this research is to support inspection and monitoring of small water systems and to ensure continuity of operators during and after disasters. The specific aims of the planning period are to: 1) Investigate and pilot tools for conducting remote sanitary inspection and remote monitoring of water sources and treatment infrastructure to improve delivery of safe water in small water systems through disasters and recovery; and 2) Explore a model of enhancing human resource capacity during emergencies in the form of shared operator programs.

Partners include the University of Massachusetts Amherst, two regional planning organizations in western Massachusetts (the Franklin Regional Council of Governments and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission), and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. Specifically, this project will develop and pilot a mobile system which simplifies and streamlines sanitary surveys and inspections for source waters and treatment facilities; evaluate novel water quality monitoring devices for application in small water systems; and develop a model for a shared-operator program for the towns located in three counties.

The research questions will address gaps in knowledge in how to support the continuity of small community water supply operations through disasters and were developed from needs identified by civic partners. The proposed project would directly address challenges small communities face due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and help with preparedness for future disasters, including future pandemics and extreme weather events.

This project is in response to the Civic Innovation Challenge program, Track B—Resilience to Natural Disasters—and is a collaboration between NSF and the Department of Homeland Security.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.