Drinking water quality and treatment: The use of artificial neural networks

To improve drinking water quality while reducing operating costs, many drin king water utilities are investing in advanced process control and automati on technologies. The use of artificial intelligence technologies, specifica lly artificial neural networks, is increasing in the drinking water treatme nt industry as they allow for the development of robust nonlinear models of complex unit processes. This paper highlights the utility of artificial ne ural networks in water quality modelling as well as drinking water treatmen t process modelling and control through the presentation of several case st udies at two large-scale water treatment plants in Edmonton, Alberta.