Open dataset on wastewater quality monitoring with adsorption and reflectance spectrophotometry in the UV-vis range

A major challenge in wastewater and sewer system monitoring is the development of advanced sensing technologies to improve standard pollutant measurement and allow real-time online detection of emerging contaminants. To evaluate the performance a novel hyperspectral imaging system compared to state-of-the-art ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) sensors, this study presents a dataset from a comprehensive 25-week measurement campaign, openly available here: https://doi.org/10.25678/000D3C (Lechevallier et al., 2024a). The dataset consists of 5801 hyperspectral images of raw wastewater taken at a 30-minute resolution, as well as measurements of temperature, ammonium, flow, turbidity, pH, and UV-vis absorbance spectra taken at a 2-minute resolution. In addition, we collected 533 grab samples and analyzed them in the laboratory for conventional pollutants, including ammonium, total suspended solids, total nitrogen, dissolved organic carbon, and phosphates. Notably, we gathered 86 of these samples after four rain events and subsequently analyzed them for twenty organic chemicals, which provided valuable insights into the impact of wet weather on pollutant levels. This paper provides detailed information on the data collection and processing methodologies, along with visualizations and analysis of the processed data. Finally, we highlighted potential applications of the data, emphasizing their relevance for future research, especially data-driven modeling. In particular, we discussed four promising uses of the dataset: measuring turbidity with hyperspectral imagers, measuring ammonium with spectrophotometers, improving sensor calibration models, and developing efficient, low-cost sensors for urban drainage monitoring. Despite difficulties in the maintenance of some sensors, in particular the ion selective electrode for ammonium measurement, the dataset's high temporal resolution, the long-time span of 25 weeks, and the extensive range of analyzed pollutants, make it a valuable resource for advancing the field of urban water management.