United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Water Engineering
Research Laboratory
Cincinnati OH 45268
Research and Development
EPA/600/S2-87/088 Apr. 1988
&ER& Project Summary
Decision Support System for
Drinking Water Research Using
Microcomputers and Mainframes
Rolf A. Deininger, Robert M. Clark, and Benjamin W. Lykins, Jr.
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA) Drinking Water Re-
search Division (DWRD) is responsible
for performing research to maintain and
improve the quality of drinking water.
With passage of the Safe Drinking Water
Act in 1974, DWRD's extramural and
intramural research activities and
budget significantly increased. In
response to these challenges, DWRD
developed a Decision Support System
to manage and analyze research data.
The system uses a mainframe com-
puter for archival purposes and for
major computations. It had evolved
from a relatively primitive system
towards the use of a state-of-the-art
IBM 3090 mainframe, with IBM PC-
AT's* as intelligent terminals and as
standalone computers. The system has
been highly successful and has signifi-
cantly enhanced DWRD's ability to
support Agency policy-making functions
as well as to provide polished informa-
tion to the drinking water community
outside of EPA.
This Project Summary was developed
by EPA's Water Engineering Research
Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, to announce
key findings of the research project that
Is fully documented In a separate report
of the same title (see Project Report
ordering Information at back).
Introduction
According to the 1972 annual report of
the U.S. Council on Environmental
Quality, "... accurate and timely in-
* Mention of trade names or commercial
products does not constitute endorsement or
recommendation for use.
formation on status and trends in the
environment is necessary to shape sound
public policy and to implement environ-
mental quality programs effectively." The
need has never been greater that it is
now.
In 1974 with passage of the Safe Drink-
ing Act, DWRD experienced expanded
research activity and massive increases
in data flow. These activities created many
data analysis problems and, in response
to these challenges, DWRD developed a
Decision Support System (multiple deci-
sion assistance mechanisms usually
based on computer technology) to manage
and analyze research data; its purpose is
to help managers and other users make
key decisions. The development of such a
system and its basic elements will be
discussed in this Project Summary.
Development of Data
Management Functions
In 1975, EPA began a series of field
projects to assess the removal of organics
from drinking water and needed to com-
pare the data across different projects.
The data arrived in highly varied formats
and with errors. These difficulties, to-
gether with the sheer mass of data and
the lack of a suitably sophisticated data
processing methodology, provided the
impetus for developing a new decision
support system. The DWRD staff and the
University of Michigan collaborated to
develop a system for managing and
analyzing these data in a way that would
satisfy the needs of the research
community.
The system for storage, retrieval, and
analysis of drinking water data evolved
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over time and was governed by the avail-
ability of both hardware and software
and by the willingness of personnel to be
trained.
The system that was developed used a
mainframe computer as a central host.
Inhouse data entry and analysis were
done initially through dumb terminals,
and an inhouse minicomputer was used
for transmission purposes. Direct data
entry was than instituted to include
laboratory instruments, graphics termi-
nals, word processors, and intelligent
terminals (e.g., personal computers); entry
was achieved directly from extramural
projects as well as from inhouse points.
Data from all these sources and from
existing Agency databases were merged
as necessary into larger databases for
easier use.
The following data bases were devel-
oped as part of the project.
• ICDATA — roughly 1000 water
supplies and 45 water quality pa-
rameters organized under the data-
base management system at the
University of Michigan (MICRO) con-
tains the data of the last update of
the Interstate Carrier Program of
EPA.
• ICDATA/M — roughly 2000 records
on about 1000 water supplies; con-
structed using all available informa-
tion from past EPA records.
• NORSDATA — EPA's National
Organics Reconnaisance Survey
(NORS).
• NOMSDATA — three phases of the
National Organics Monitoring Sys-
tem (NOMS) of EPA's Office of Drink-
ing Water; also contains data on
trihalomethanes and such conven-
tional parameters as CCE, TOC, and
COD.
• CWSSDATA, including the Com-
munity Water Supply Study (CWSS)
— drinking water quality data in the
State of Vermont and in selected
areas in the United States that EPA
surveyed in 1969.
• DURFOR — the drinking water
quality data of the 100 largest U.S.
cities; exists under both MICRO and
MIDAS and is based on a 1960
survey by the U.S. Geological Survey.
• THOUWATER, the so-called "1000
City Survey" — inorganic parameters
of raw, finished, and distributed
waters for about 600 cities.
• CARDIO/M — cardiovascular
disease motality rates by county,
available under MIDAS; contains
age-adjusted, 3-year-average, stan-
dardized cardiovascular disease
mortality rates for both sexes.
• CANCER/M — age-adjusted, 20-
year-average, cancer mortality rates
for each race and sex group in a
selected set of counties.
While developing these data bases.
DWRD staff entered data from field and
inhouse projects that were ultimately
used in the Decision Support System.
Typical of this approach were projects at
Thornton, Colorado, and Charlotte Harbor,
Florida.
Thornton Project
Drinking water for Thornton is produced
by two treatment plants with a total
capacity of 20 mgd. The raw water source
for one plant is affected by upstream
wastewater discharges to the South Platte
River. The major concerns are high con-
centrations of ammonia, organic precur-
sors that form trihalomethanes greater
than established limits, and other
potentially harmful organics.
The large amount of data gathered
during the course of the project delayed
its reporting and analysis. Data from
notebooks compiled in Thornton were
entered in Cincinnati and transmitted to
EPA's National Computer Center (NCC) at
Research Triangle Park, NC. Both the
project manager and project personnel
needed early access to the data and
wanted to analyze the data jointly.
In August 1982, an Apple II+ system
with floppy disk drives, plotter, printer,
and communications was installed at the
Thornton water treatment plant. This
permitted direct entry and verification
and previewing of the analyzed results.
The system was later upgraded with a
Tektronix graphics emulator chip to allow
direct viewing of the graphs generated at
EPA's NCC.
The software provided for word pro-
cessing, plotting, and communications.
The major need at the beginning was to
enter the data directly into the NCC
system. A program was written that would
allow off-line data entry into the Apple,
editing of these data, and subsequent
submission of the data at maximum speed
to NCC. Calculations and transformations
of the data were done at the NCC.
Charlotte Harbor
The Charlotte Harbor Water Association
(CHWA) has been conducting pilot plant
studies since 1979 because of the need
(1) to develop data on reverse osmosis(
(RO) treatment to remove inorganic con-
taminants listed in the National Interim
Primary Drinking Water Regulations and
(2) to develop low-pressure RO
membranes.
The considerable amount of data that
were generated were recorded in note-
books, transcribed into quarterly reports,
and sent to EPA for key-punching. The
EPA project manager wanted to receive
the data in a timely fashion and wanted
to ensure some data quality control
because the several transcription steps
introduced errors at every step.
In August 1982, an Apple II micro-
computer system with floppy disk drives,
plotter, and communications was installed
at the CHWA. The software provided for
word processing, communications, spread-
sheeting, and plotting. This system al-
lowed local recording of the data in a
machine-readable form and a review and
preliminary analysis of the data. To
transfer the data, floppy disks were ex-
changed, although direct phone transfer
was also tested.
Evolution of the
Computer System
The system has thus developed from
the original University of Michigan main-
frame development (using for input
Apple-based systems and floppy disk
drives) to the EPA NCC IBM mainframe
(3090), (using as input/output devices
IBM PC-AT's with fixed disks to con-
siderably enhance standalone computing
power.)
The incorporation of recent personal
computer hardware and software and
telecommunications provides a powerful
analytical tool for (1) extramural plant
personnel, (2) DWRD staff, and (3) other
members of the drinking water research
and regulatory community to obtain rapid
and precise research results and a much
better understanding of treatment plant
design and performance parameters.
Conclusions
The development of the Decision Sup-
port System has led to an extensive col-
lection of drinking water quality data on
the major water supplies in the United
States. Using large central computer sys-
tems with easy access over the telephone
networks allowed potential users to
access the data from any point in the
United States. The significant amount of
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training fostered "computer" literacy that
will be of great use to DWRD in the
future.
Using microcomputers to acquire and
analyze data at several pilot plants proved
quite successful. Newer data sets will be
added to the existing ones to provide a
long-term record of the drinking water
quality in the United States.
The full report was submitted in ful-
fillment of Cooperative Agreement CR-
808857 by the University of Michigan
under the sponsorship of the U.S. En-
vironmental Protection Agency.
Rolf A. Deininger is with the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ml 48109;
the EPA authors Robert M. Clark (also the EPA Project Officer, see below)
and Benjamin W. L ykins are with the Water Engineering Research Laboratory,
Cincinnati, OH 45268.
The complete report, entitled "Decision Support System for Drinking Water
Research Using Microcomputers and Mainframes," (Order No. PB 88-114
079/AS; Cost: $14.95, subject to change) will be available only from:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, v'A 22161
Telephone: 703-487-4650
The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at:
Water Engineering Research Laboratory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Cincinnati, OH 45268
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United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research
Information
Cincinnati OH 45268
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