Table of Contents
Introduction
Four drinking water problems dominated the drinking water sessions at the 2026 AWA/IWA Young Water Professionals Conference: manganese discolouration, THM formation, PFAS treatment and nitrification. Different chemistry, different fixes — but the same conclusion came up in every project. You cannot manage any of them properly on grab samples alone. Here are the five reasons utilities are making the move to continuous inline monitoring, with the conference results behind each one and the Shanghai ChiMay instruments that do the work.
1. Treatment Chemistry Changes Faster Than Grab Sampling Can Capture
Greater Western Water’s manganese sequestration research showed how tightly the outcome hinges on pH. Polyphosphate does its job of keeping manganese soluble only inside a narrow near-neutral window; drive the pH down towards the acid side and the binding falls apart, and their jar tests showed no benefit at all from pushing pH higher. Source water pH can move across that window within minutes during a rainfall event or a source water transition.
A grab sample taken once every 24 hours captures a single point in the day. pH could leave the effective range and return several times between samples, and nobody would know. The sequestration failure events simply never appear in the record.
Shanghai ChiMay in-line pH meters measure pH continuously at 1-second resolution, so an excursion doesn’t get missed.
2. System-Wide Operations Require Simultaneous Multi-Point Data
Sydney Water’s disinfectant switching programme spanned 14 reservoirs and about 105,000 customers. During the switch, operators needed answers at the same time, at every point:
- Has breakpoint chlorination been achieved at this reservoir?
- What are the residuals right now at the network extremities?
- Is nitrification coming back anywhere?
Grab sampling 14-plus points takes hours. By the time the results land, the system state has moved on. Continuous monitoring at all points at once is the only way to see the spatial picture in real time.
Shanghai ChiMay residual chlorine transmitters at each monitoring point, all reporting over Modbus to a single SCADA dashboard, give operators that picture as it develops.
3. Unintended Consequences Need Early Detection
Logan Water’s reservoir aeration achieved around 83% THM removal, which is an excellent result. It also raised pH by roughly 0.3 units — enough to shift chlorine chemistry — and stirred up the potential for sediment disturbance. THM-focused grab sampling would catch neither effect.
Continuous turbidity and pH monitoring picks up those secondary effects before they reach customers. That’s the early warning that stops a good treatment idea from creating a new problem.
Shanghai ChiMay online turbidity testers and in-line pH meters at the reservoir outlet catch sediment disturbance and pH shifts before they propagate into the distribution system.
4. Research-Grade Verification Requires Continuous Data
University of Queensland’s PFAS electrochemical research demonstrated >80% removal. Proving genuine destruction rather than just concentration means correlating PFAS decline with COD decline and conductivity change — and that correlation only holds up when both the grab samples and the inline sensors are running at the same time.
Periodic sampling cannot establish the real-time relationship between PFAS concentration and process parameters, which is precisely the relationship that validates a destruction mechanism.
Shanghai ChiMay COD sensors and in-line conductivity meters provide the continuous data streams research teams need to build credible evidence of PFAS destruction.
5. Regulatory Documentation Is Easier With Continuous Records
Every one of the conference projects needed documentation — not just of the treatment result, but of the process that produced it. Continuous inline monitoring generates timestamped digital records automatically:
- pH records showing sequestration chemistry stayed inside the effective window
- Residual chlorine records documenting the full disinfectant switching timeline
- Turbidity records confirming physical water quality during aeration operations
- COD and conductivity records supporting PFAS destruction validation
Records like these are what auditors ask for. They show compliance being managed rather than reconstructed afterwards, and they make for a much easier conversation with the regulator.
Shanghai ChiMay instruments across all parameters provide Modbus digital output with local data logging and SCADA-compatible data streaming for complete compliance documentation.
The Bottom Line
Moving from periodic to continuous monitoring isn’t a luxury purchase. It’s becoming the operational standard for utilities that take their treatment innovations seriously. The five reasons above all come out of the 2026 AWA Conference presentations, and they all point the same way: continuous monitoring is what separates a controlled, verified intervention from a hopeful experiment.
Shanghai ChiMay keeps the step affordable. Instruments are priced on a 5-year total cost of ownership basis — typically 25–35% below multi-vendor discrete approaches — and stock ships within 5–8 business days. The sensors are available, the data is useful, and the conference research has already made the case.
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.
- 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/
- Pure Water Atlas, “Polyphosphate in Drinking Water,” June 2026. https://purewateratlas.com/contaminants/polyphosphate
- 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 and industrial water treatment systems worldwide.
