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A geostatistical protocol to optimize spatial sampling of domestic drinking water supplies in remote environments

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Abstract

This paper deals with the design of optimal spatial sampling of water quality variables in remote regions, where logistics are complicated and the optimization of monitoring networks may be critical to maximize the effectiveness of human and material resources. A methodology that combines the probability of exceeding some particular thresholds with a measurement of the information provided by each pair of experimental points has been introduced. This network optimization concept, where the basic unit of information is not a single spatial location but a pair of spatial locations, is used to emphasize the locations with the greatest information, which are those at the border of the phenomenon (for example contamination or a quality variable exceeding a given threshold), that is, where the variable at one of the locations in the pair is above the threshold value and the other is below the threshold. The methodology is illustrated with a case of optimizing the monitoring network by optimal selection of the subset that best describes the information provided by an exhaustive survey done at a given moment in time but which cannot be repeated systematically due to time or economic constrains.

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Acknowledgements

This research has been funded by the Agencia Española de Cooperación al Desarrollo (AECID), Under Grants 2014/ACDE/005226 and 2016/ACDE/001953. For their time and support, the authors would like to thank Geólogos Sin Fronteras (Geologists Without Borders). We would like to thank the reviewers for their comments that have helped to improve the final version of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Ríos Rosas, 23, 28003, Madrid, Spain

    Eulogio Pardo-Igúzquiza

  2. Departamento de Geodinámica, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, c/ José Antonio Novais, nº 12, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Pedro Martínez-Santos

  3. Departamento de Geología, Geografía y Medio Ambiente, Facultad de Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad de Alcalá, Campus Universitario. Ctra. Madrid-Barcelona, Km 33,600, 28801, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain

    Miguel Martín-Loeches

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  1. Eulogio Pardo-Igúzquiza
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  2. Pedro Martínez-Santos
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  3. Miguel Martín-Loeches
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Correspondence to Pedro Martínez-Santos.

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Pardo-Igúzquiza, E., Martínez-Santos, P. & Martín-Loeches, M. A geostatistical protocol to optimize spatial sampling of domestic drinking water supplies in remote environments. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 32, 2433–2444 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-017-1499-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-017-1499-4

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