Clarkson part of team tweaking water monitors
POTSDAM — Clarkson University is teaming up with a Hudson Valley-based research organization to revolutionize environmental science, according to James S. Bonner, research director for the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries at the university.
From an office in Old Main on Clarkson's downtown campus, the partners are working to improve underwater sensor technology and install the sensors in the Hudson and St. Lawrence rivers as part of the River and Estuary Observatory Network. The sensors provide real-time monitoring of water quality, including particle size and location, water velocity, oxygen content and dozens of other environmental indicators. All the information is updated every few minutes on a website.
"Moving into real-time sampling allows us to see the environment as it is; it's going to transform our understanding of environmental science," Mr. Bonner said. "We won't be able to do that until we make it cheaper, until we make it easier. We're part of that revolution."
So far, the Beacon Institute has placed four active sensors in the Hudson Valley with a fifth test site in development. There are three test sites in the north country; one in Hannawa Falls, another at Higley Flow in Colton and the last in the Environmental Protection Agency's area of concern in the Grasse River in Massena. Two more are scheduled to go in the St. Lawrence River within the next two weeks.
All of the sites except the one in development on the Hudson River provide real-time data about the river. The up-to-the-minute data provide details about the rivers that have not been available before, according to Mr. Bonner.
"Ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the biological activity happens 1 percent of the time," he said. "If you're not using sensors, you're not going to be there that 1 percent of the time."
The problem is that the sensor technology is still expensive; each one costs several hundred dollars. The price tag makes them cost-prohibitive for many organizations and prevents them from being installed in large numbers. The work that Clarkson is doing with the Beacon Institute is grant-funded.
The work Mr. Bonner and his team are doing will make the sensors smaller, more energy efficient and less expensive to build and operate.
But the sensors have more uses than simply monitoring particles and oxygen content. They can be used to track the particles carrying polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, oil droplets or other contaminants. This kind of technology, Mr. Bonner said, can and should be used in the Gulf of Mexico to track where the oil is going from the Deepwater Horizon well that exploded April 20.
"We will not make transformative environmental science without these sensors, so we can have a new understanding and better understanding of the environment," said Mr. Bonner, who has been working on sensor technology since 1979. "This is all a piece of the puzzle that allows us to have a comprehensive perspective of where the contaminants are going, whether it's oil in the Gulf or PCBs in Massena."
ON THE NET
Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries: www.bire.org
