WQeMS aims to provide an operational Water Quality Emergency Monitoring Service to the water utilities industry in relation with the quality of the ‘water we drink’. Therefore, it will focus its activities on monitoring of lakes valorized by the water utilities for the delivery of drinking water. Sentinel data (i.e. Sentinel -2 and Sentinel-1) will be exploited for quality monitoring at a fine spatial resolution level, following validated processes with in situ data. The proposed WQeMS will exploit the Copernicus Data and Information Access Services (DIAS ONDA), instead of setting up its own download and processing infrastructure. Linkages with the existing Thematic Exploitation Platforms (TEPs), such as the Hydrology TEP for monitoring flood events and the Food Security TEP for supporting the sustainable intensification of farming from space will be pursued. Following cases are to be treated in real time in cooperation with drinking water production companies (public and private): - Slow developing phenomena (business-as-usual scenario), such as geogenic or anthropogenic release of potentially polluting elements through the bedrock or pollutants’ leaching in the underground aquifer through human rural activities, may influence water quality. Changes in the monitored chemical dissolved substances may be then detected. - Fast developing phenomena (e.g. floods spilling debris and mud or pollutant spills of chemicals in the lakes or algal bloom and potential release of toxins by cyanobacteria) produce huge quantities of contaminants at a short time interval bringing sanitation utilities at the edge of their performance capacity. Monitoring of the extent of the effluents in the lake; thus, providing a warning about the risk of water contamination, assist in mitigating impact, both for the water drinking water production and the environment.

Pathogens are a determining factor in emergency response due to their life-threatening nature, both for the public as well as for the safety of first responders. In many cases, pathogen contaminations are difficult to detect, and require specialized technologies, tools and procedures to handle them. Pathogens can easily spread via water, and may cause contaminations of large areas far from their origin. Waterborne pathogen contamination events can occur anywhere, and may be caused by various natural events or they can be the result of human activity, either accidental or malicious. During these emergencies, first responders may need to operate within a certain pre-defined incident area, and are likely to be exposed to contaminated water originating from various sources, such as surface water, wastewater or drinking water. This can pose a significant risk of illness, disease or even death, through skin contact, ingestion or inhalation. The overall objective of the PathoCERT project is to strengthen the coordination capability of the first responders in handling waterborne pathogen contamination events. This will increase the first responders’ capabilities, allowing the rapid and accurate detection of pathogens, improving their situational awareness, and improving their ability to control and mitigate emergency situations involving waterborne pathogens. To achieve this objective, the project will research and demonstrate Pathogen Contamination Emergency Response Technologies (PathoCERT), a collection of novel, cost-effective and easy-to-use technologies, tools and guidelines, which will be field-validated by the first responders.

Exposure of citizens to potential disasters has led to vulnerable societies that require risk reduction measures. Drinking water is one main source of risk when its safety and security is not ensured. aqua3S combines novel technologies in water safety and security, aiming to standardise existing sensor technologies complemented by state-of-the-art detection mechanisms. On the one hand sensor networks are deployed in water supply networks and sources, supported by complex sensors for enhanced detection; on the other hand sensor measurements are supported by videos from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), satellite images and social media observations from the citizens that report low-quality water in their area (e.g. by colorisation), creating also social awareness and an interactive knowledge transfer. Semantic representation and data fusion provides intelligent DSS alerts and messages to the public through first responders’ mediums. The proposed technical solution is designed to offer a very effective detection system, taking into account the cost of the aqua3S platform and targets at very high return over investment ratio. A strategy for the insertion of aqua3S solution into the market is designed towards the standardisation of the proposed technologies and the aqua3S secure platform.