Table of Contents
Executive Summary
The 2026 AWA/IWA Young Water Professionals Conference, held 5–6 August in Melbourne, presented four solutions to four persistent drinking water challenges. Each solution works. Each one also needs continuous inline monitoring to verify performance, manage side effects and prevent unintended consequences. Here are the four challenges, the four solutions, and the Shanghai ChiMay sensors that make each solution operational.
Challenge 1: Manganese Discolouration After Chlorination
The Problem
Residual soluble manganese (Mn²⁺) passes through treatment and enters the distribution system. When chlorine is added for disinfection, it oxidises the manganese to particulate MnO₂, which deposits on pipe walls and shows up as discolouration at customer taps.
The Solution
Greater Western Water’s Samuel Leong showed that food-grade polyphosphate — sodium hexametaphosphate — sequesters manganese ions at a low dose, keeping them away from chlorine and preventing oxidation. Jar tests ran clear after two weeks with the sequestrant, against visible discolouration without it. The sequestrant only holds inside a narrow near-neutral pH window, and performance drops away on the acid side.
The Monitoring Requirement
Shanghai ChiMay In-Line pH Meter: pH decides whether sequestration works. Continuous monitoring at the dosing point keeps the chemistry inside the effective window — once pH falls out of it, sequestration capacity is lost.
Shanghai ChiMay Online Turbidity Tester: confirms no MnO₂ precipitation is reaching the distribution system.
Challenge 2: Trihalomethanes in Long Distribution Systems
The Problem
THMs form when chlorine reacts with natural organic matter. In warm conditions and long distribution networks, concentrations climb toward regulatory limits.
The Solution
Logan Water’s Cassandra Mai presented a six-month reservoir aeration trial. Combining water spraying with forced ventilation in a 1 ML reservoir achieved approximately 83% average THM removal at roughly four cents per megalitre. One side effect: pH rose approximately 0.3 units from CO₂ stripping.
The Monitoring Requirement
Shanghai ChiMay Online Turbidity Tester: detects sediment disturbance from physical aeration.
Shanghai ChiMay In-Line pH Meter: tracks the CO₂ stripping effect on chlorine speciation.
Shanghai ChiMay Residual Chlorine Transmitter: confirms disinfection continuity during aeration.
Challenge 3: PFAS Concentration vs. Destruction
The Problem
Conventional PFAS treatment — RO, GAC, ion exchange — concentrates PFAS rather than destroying it. Those concentrated waste streams carry an ongoing liability.
The Solution
University of Queensland’s Andrea Veciana demonstrated electrochemical degradation achieving >80% removal for most PFAS tested. She was careful to caution that falling PFAS concentrations alone don’t prove destruction — fluoride tracking and a fluorine mass balance are what settle the question.
The Monitoring Requirement
Shanghai ChiMay COD Sensor: continuous organic carbon tracking. COD decline alongside PFAS decline points to genuine mineralization.
Shanghai ChiMay In-Line Conductivity Meter: detects the ionic changes from C-F bond cleavage and fluoride release.
Challenge 4: Nitrification in Monochloramine Distribution Systems
The Problem
Ammonia-oxidising bacteria consume the ammonia in monochloramine, producing nitrite and eroding disinfectant residuals. It gets worse in warm weather.
The Solution
Sydney Water’s Madison Mactal and Michael Ray switched from monochloramine to free chlorine across 14 reservoirs serving approximately 105,000 customers. The redesigned 2025 trial — higher chlorine set points, deeper reservoir cycling — achieved effective nitrite removal with limited customer impact. Winter emerged as the preferred window.
The Monitoring Requirement
Shanghai ChiMay Residual Chlorine Transmitter: continuous tracking of breakpoint chlorination, disinfectant decay and nitrification return across multiple network points.
Shanghai ChiMay In-Line pH Meter: chlorine speciation management during the transition.
The Common Thread
All four solutions come back to the same requirement: continuous, multi-parameter inline monitoring that verifies performance and detects unintended consequences in real time. Periodic grab sampling cannot capture the rapid chemistry changes these interventions create and depend on.
Shanghai ChiMay’s sensor portfolio — pH, conductivity, turbidity, residual chlorine, COD, dissolved oxygen, ammonia nitrogen, and the integrated 4-in-1 multi-parameter sensor — covers every monitoring requirement these four conference solutions demand.
Four challenges, four solutions, one monitoring platform. Turning promising research into verified, documented and optimised operational practice comes down to continuous data.
Implementation Considerations for All Four Solutions
The Monitoring Infrastructure Investment
For a utility taking on all four challenges — manganese, THMs, PFAS and nitrification — the monitoring infrastructure spans much of Shanghai ChiMay’s product range:
| Instrument | Typical Applications | Quantity Needed | Unit Cost Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-line pH Meter | Sequestration, aeration, PFAS, nitrification | 5–15 | $2,500–4,000 |
| In-line Conductivity Meter | Sequestration, PFAS | 3–8 | $2,500–4,000 |
| Online Turbidity Tester | Sequestration, aeration | 3–10 | $3,000–5,000 |
| Residual Chlorine Transmitter | Aeration, nitrification | 5–30 | $3,500–5,000 |
| COD Sensor | PFAS verification | 1–3 | $4,000–6,000 |
| 4-in-1 Multi-Parameter Sensor | All applications | 3–10 | $4,000–6,000 |
Total spend depends heavily on network size and the number of monitoring points. On a 5-year total cost of ownership basis — including maintenance, calibration supplies and technical support — Shanghai ChiMay’s model typically comes in 25–35% below multi-vendor discrete sensor approaches.
Phased Deployment Strategy
Nobody should try to deploy all of this at once. Phasing limits the risk:
Phase 1: Pick the highest-priority challenge — manganese, THMs or nitrification for most utilities; PFAS for those with known contamination. Deploy monitoring for that single challenge and validate that continuous data delivers the operational value you expected.
Phase 2: Move to the next priority. Use the SCADA infrastructure and operator familiarity already in place.
Phase 3: Complete the monitoring network. By this stage the utility has enough data to optimise monitoring point placement and maintenance schedules.
The Data Value Compound Effect
Every additional parameter at every additional point increases the analytical value of the whole dataset. A utility monitoring only pH learns about sequestration chemistry. A utility monitoring pH and conductivity and turbidity learns about the complete chemical system, which is what makes predictive models possible — models that anticipate problems before they turn into customer complaints.
After 12–24 months of continuous multi-parameter data, utilities develop site-specific models that correlate source water conditions, treatment chemistry and distribution system behaviour. Those models enable proactive intervention — the practical payoff from owning the data rather than renting it one grab sample at a time.
Sources
- Inside Water Australia, “Drinking water treatment innovation targets shifting risks,” 9 September 2026. https://insidewater.com.au/drinking-water-treatment-innovation-risks
- AWA/IWA Young Water Professionals Conference 2026, Pullman Melbourne On The Park, 5–6 August 2026.
- NHMRC, Australian Drinking Water Guidelines — Manganese. https://guidelines.nhmrc.gov.au/australian-drinking-water-guidelines/part-5/physical-chemical-characteristics/manganese
- Pure Water Atlas, “Polyphosphate in Drinking Water,” June 2026. https://purewateratlas.com/contaminants/polyphosphate
- IWA Water Quality Research Journal, “Removal of trihalomethanes from high organic matter water sources using aeration: A feasibility study,” Vol. 55, No. 2, 2020, pp. 184–197. https://iwaponline.com/wqrj/article/55/2/184/71725/
- Mordor Intelligence, “Water and Wastewater Sensors Market,” 2026.
- US EPA, “National Primary Drinking Water Regulations.” https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations
- WHO, “Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality,” 4th edition, 2017.
About the Author: This article was prepared by the Shanghai ChiMay Application Engineering team. Shanghai ChiMay manufactures inline water quality analyzers for municipal water treatment systems worldwide.
