Metadata Collection and Organization in Wastewater Treatment and Wastewater Resource Recovery Systems

In recent years, the wastewater treatment field has undergone an instrumentation revolution. Thanks to increased efficiency of communication networks and extreme reductions in data storage costs, wastewater plants have entered the era of big data. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence and machine learning tools have enabled the extraction of valuable information from large-scale datasets. Despite this potential, the successful deployment of AI and automation depends on the quality of the data produced and the ability to analyze it usefully in large quantities. Metadata, including a quantification of the data quality, is often missing, so vast amounts of collected data quickly become useless. Ultimately, data-dependent decisions supported by machine learning and AI will not be possible without data readiness skills accounting for all the Vs of big data: volume, velocity, variety, and veracity. Metadata Collection and Organization in Wastewater Treatment and Wastewater Resource Recovery Systems provides recommendations to handle these challenges, and aims to clarify metadata concepts and provide advice on their practical implementation in water resource recovery facilities. This includes guidance on the best practices to collect, organize, and assess data and metadata, based on existing standards and state-of-the-art algorithmic tools. This Scientific and Technical Report offers a great starting point for improved data management and decision making, and will be of interest to a wide audience, including sensor technicians, operational staff, data management specialists, and plant managers.