Seasonal Monitoring and Data Analysis

The Metropolitan District of Connecticut (MDC) has multiple source water reservoirs in northwest Connecticut.  MDC is looking for ways to reduce Total Organic Carbon (TOC) by source water management. GZA provides seasonal sampling of their 5 reservoirs as well as data analysis to assess management options.

Challenge

Using a seasonal sampling program to help identify management options (potential operations changes or in-water apparatus installations) to aid in reduction of TOC in the raw water.
 

Solution

The GZA team implemented a season sampling program aimed at monitoring both seasonal changes and longer-term trends in water quality of MDC’s source reservoirs.  
 

Benefit

The benefits of a robust sampling program allow GZA to:

• Assess the overall system to be able to recommend potential management strategies
• Assess the impacts of weather, climate, stratification, and anoxia on water quality dynamics; 
• Provide better insight into the causes of poor water quality conditions (such as cyanobacteria and TOC) that can reveal target areas for new or improved management implementation; 
• Continue to develop a long-term dataset to track conditions, record changes, and provide a baseline of typical reservoir behavior; and
• Provide GZA with the information we need to recommend operational practices to improve raw water quality to the Water Treatment Plant.