Comparative analysis of machine learning models for detecting water quality anomalies in treatment plants

Water is one of the most critical and finite resources on our planet. As the demand for freshwater continues to grow, effectively managing and purifying existing water sources becomes increasingly important. This study introduces a Machine learning-based approach for enhancing water quality monitoring and anomaly detection in treatment plants using a modified Quality Index (QI). The proposed method integrates an encoder-decoder architecture with real-time anomaly detection and adaptive QI computation, providing a dynamic evaluation of water quality. In addition to developing this model, we present a comparative analysis with several existing machine learning models, demonstrating the effectiveness of our approach in detecting water quality anomalies. The revised QI is continuously updated using real-time sensor data, aiding decision-making in treatment operations. Experimental results show that the proposed model achieves superior performance, with an accuracy of 89.18%, precision of 85.54%, recall of 94.02%, Critical Success Index of 93.42%, Matthews Correlation Coefficient of 88.40%, delta-P of 94.37%, and Fowlkes-Mallow's Index of 89.47%. These results highlight the model's strong predictive capability and its practical utility in improving water treatment plant efficiency. By combining Machine learning with adaptive quality assessment, this study contributes to advancing intelligent monitoring solutions in water management.