Establishment of decision support tools for environmental monitoring of priority and emerging contaminants using novel technologies and data management tools.

1. Establishment of decision support tools for
environmental monitoring of priority and
emerging contaminants using novel
technologies and data management tools
Prof. Fiona Regan
Director, DCU Water Institute
Dublin, Ireland

2. Outline
Emerging
contaminants /
chemicals of
concern among
the many
pollutants in
water
Sources of
pollutants are
many – and we
need to monitor
the changes in
water quality –
observing trends
Technology
advances –
integration of
disciplines of
biotechnology,
chemistry,
engineering,
data
Information and
decision support
tools can be
developed using
integrated
technologies
with data
analytics
EDSS Help to
inform policy
Leading to
change in
monitoring
practice
Improved water
management
The effort to develop technologies that inform environmental policy and managers searching
for solutions to problems:
 development of environmental DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Decisions involve problem formulation as well as solution generation.

3. What is Decision
Support Tool?
Any guidance, procedure, or
analysis tool that can be used
to help support a decision.
Best practices suggested to overcome the challenges are
grouped according to recommendations related to:
• Designing for ease of use;
• Designing for usefulness;
• Establishing trust and credibility;
• Promoting the EDSS for acceptance; and
• Starting simple and small.
Despite the perceived value of
DSS in informing
environmental and natural
resource management  DSS
tools often fail to be adopted
by intended end users.

4. Sensors to Information
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53.4
53.5
53.6
−6.25 −6.20 −6.15 −6.10 −6.05 −6.00
Longitude
Latitude
E.coli
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5000
10000
15000
E. coli 2010−2013
SmartBay Dublin Project
Open data
Real-time
data
Information for the stakeholder

6. Are technology innovations meeting the needs?
Current Monitoring
approach:
Compliance,
surveillance,
investigative  Levels
of pollutants can vary
temporally and
spatially
Episodic events could
be missed, or
conclusions could be
drawn on the basis of
what may only be
transitory high levels.

7. •Traditional separation
methods
•Compliance monitoring -
EQS
Emerging chemicals of
concern
•Longer-term monitoring
•Trend monitoring
•Passive sampling
Polar and non-polar
organics •Sensor platform
development
•Single and multi-analyte
systems
•Integration of technologies
Environmental
pollutants (toxins,
pharmaceuticals)
Spot sampling Longer-term monitoring of trends
Continuous real-time
monitoring of certain
parameters
A single sample 4-6 weeks Up-to a year autonomously
Watch List chemicals
Industries with no
trade effluent licenses
Continuing need to develop
real-time monitoring
platforms
Technologies for emerging contaminant monitoring
Is there a role for surrogate monitoring to show trends?

8. Key Messages
Informed
decision
making in
response to the
need to
manage &
protect water
Be open to new
ways of
monitoring
water for
emerging
contaminants
of concern
Novel
technology can
play a role and
we need to see
significant
investment in
capacity and
research
Integrate
technology
with data
analytics –
work with
stakeholder to
understand the
problem
Better
approach to
management
of a scarce &
valuable
resource