On-line monitoring of cyanobacteria

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Background and Relevance

Drinking and recycled water treatment plants that utilise water that is subject to Cyanobacteria blooms have to contend with cyanotoxins, a legitimate health concern, and taste and odour (T&O) compounds, a major source of customer complaints.  The key barriers for cyanotoxins and T&O compounds are powdered activated carbon (PAC) dosing and coagulation.  Optimisation of these processes is currently a reactive process based on cell counts and T&O compound analysis, the results of which may take days to obtain, and jar testing which, while faster than the analytical techniques, provide data after water has been released to the system.