U of M Researchers Install Remote Control Sensors in Neighborhood Lakes, Streams for Live, Up-to-the-Minute Water Quality Monitoring

MEDIA NOTE: Arnold, Swackhamer and Water Resources Science Graduate Student Chris Wennen will be available to tour the current sensor site with reporters at Edina's Lake Pamela at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 20. Call Nina Shepherd at (612) 599-1148 for details and directions.

Contacts: Nina Shepherd, Water Resources Center, (612) 599-1148, shep001@umn.edu
Mark Cassutt, University News Service, (612) 624-8038, cassutt@umn.edu

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (05/18/2009) — Spring rains flush thousands of pounds of herbicides, household and automotive chemicals, fecal coliforms and other pollutants from Twin Cities streets and parking lots into area streams, wetlands, and lakes, polluting watersheds and occasionally ruining swimming and other water activities. Now, with help from the University’s Water Resources Center (WRC), researchers in the university’s department of civil engineering have developed the next generation of water quality monitoring: a network of wireless sensors that analyze metro-area runoff in real time, allowing water experts to predict when and where the pollutants will hit.

With a goal of installing 100 sensors in the next decade, lead researchers and civil engineering professors William Arnold and Miki Hondzo envision a real-time Weather Channel-like narrative that will help boaters, swimmers and water experts plan activities. The sensors also promise to help urban planners design for minimal impact of urban runoff in lakes and streams by monitoring not just what runs through local watersheds, but when.

The five sensors, installed on tripods and powered by solar panels, are positioned at key points near streams and ponds and are programmed to measure turbidity, temperature, salinity, pH, and nitrate and oxygen levels, plus the depth and flow of the water. Automatic samplers also collect water for analysis of fecal coliforms and pesticides in the laboratory. Four of the sensors send data via radio to a base station, which transmits the compiled data overnight by cell phone to the uUniversity’s St. Anthony Falls Laboratory for analysis.

While the sensors routinely sample water and runoff at set intervals during their eight-week stint, students back on campus can program the sensors to kick into high gear immediately before, during and after a major rain event to capture data on how the local watershed handles major water and pollutant loads.

“This project is a great example of research that will move environmental monitoring to the next level and improve our understanding and management of water resources,” said Deb Swackhamer, WRC director. The project was funded by a seed grant from WRC and with support from state and federal agencies. WRC is affiliated with the university’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and University of Minnesota Extension.