Spatial diversity of chlorine residual in a drinking water distribution system: application of an integrated fuzzy logic technique

A reduction in the concentration of chlorine, which is used as a chemical disinfectant for water in drinking water distribution systems, can be considered to be an index of the progressive deterioration of water quality. In this work, attention is given to the spatial distribution of the residual chlorine in drinking water distribution systems. The criterion for grouping the water-quality parameters normally used is highly subjective and often based on data that are not correctly identified. In this paper, a cluster analysis based on fuzzy logic is applied. The advantage of the proposed procedure is that it allows a user to identify (in an automatic way and without any specific assumption) the zonation of the network and easily calibrate the unknown parameters. An analysis of the correlation between the sampling sites for the residual chlorine has been used to assess the applicability of the procedure