纳滤和反渗透膜容易受到污染；因此 为了控制胶体、有机物、生物污染和结垢，需要进行预处理。 与传统纳滤或反渗透相结合的预处理工艺 被称为集成膜系统（IMSs）。 在IMS能够成功实施之前，需要制定控制膜污染的策略 必须进行评估。研究如何减少纳滤（NF）和 反渗透（RO）膜达到可接受的水平，IMSs使用不同的表面 在中试规模上对水预处理进行了试验，并与常规预处理进行了比较 厌氧地下水膜系统: 使用混凝、沉淀、过滤（CSF）进行预处理，然后缓慢 砂滤（SSF）或CSF、生物活性炭过滤（BAC） 其次是SSF； 基于土壤通道的预处理，如渠道过滤和河岸过滤 （RBF）或RBF，然后曝气和快速砂滤（RSF）； 基于CSF和/或微滤（MF）和/或超滤（UF）的预处理。 除了系统生产率和污垢评估外，该研究还侧重于: 消毒评估，包括完整性监测； DBP前体去除；和 SOC去除、无机物去除、生物稳定性、腐蚀性和成本。 除了中试工厂研究外，还对实验室测试的适用性进行了研究和评估 制定了国际监测系统研究的协议。 美国为国际监测系统项目所做的工作包括在 Irvine Ranch Water District和东圣路易斯正在对 迈尔斯堡的全尺寸智能弹药系统，使用 实验室生成数据并开发IMS协议。

Nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes are susceptible to fouling; therefore, pretreatment is needed to control colloidal, organic, biological fouling and scaling. Pretreatment processes combined with a conventional nanofiltration or reverse osmosis are named Integrated Membrane Systems (IMSs). Before an IMS can be implemented successfully, strategies to control membrane fouling must be evaluated. To investigate how to reduce fouling onto nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes to an acceptable level, IMSs using different surface water pretreatments were tested on a pilot plant scale in comparison with a conventional membrane system for anaerobic groundwater: pretreatment using coagulation, sedimentation, filtration (CSF) followed by slow sand filtration (SSF) or CSF, biological activated carbon filtration (BAC) followed by SSF; pretreatment based on soil passage such as canal filtration and river bank filtration (RBF) or RBF followed by aeration and rapid sand filtration (RSF); pretreatment based on CSF and/or microfiltration (MF) and/or ultrafiltration (UF). In addition to system productivity and fouling assessment the research was focussed on: disinfection assessment including integrity monitoring; DBP-precursor removal; and, SOC removal, inorganics removal, biological stability, corrosivity and costs. In addition to the pilot plant research the suitability of laboratory testing was pursued and a protocol for IMS studies was developed. The American work effort for the IMS project consisted of conducting pilot operations at the Irvine Ranch Water District, and East St. Louis, conducting operations analysis of a full-scale IMS at Fort Myers, modeling pilot and full-scale IMS performance using laboratory generated data and developing an IMS protocol.