Surface Water Monitoring

Applications

Danube River surface water monitored with s::can products

Researcher Carsten Riechelmann travelled on his self-made catamaran through Europe, which he equipped with a s::can system to georeference the measured data. Longitudinal continuous profiles of all parameters were registered and displayed in real time on online maps.
s::can’s fully submersible spectro::lyser, ammo::lyser, oxi::lyser and condu::lyser were used to monitor a wide range of parameters. These sensors require very little maintenance and are ideal for use in multiple applications with long-term stability.
Using the s::can system on a boat made it possible to record a nearly complete concentration profile of the organic contaminants (COD, BOD, TOC), nutrients (NH4, NO3) and the basic parameters pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen and conductivity along the way.
3850 km of surface water monitored with s::can
This picture of the Danube catchment illustrates how Ammonium concentration is influenced by large cities. This can have a major impact on the aquatic environment of these areas.
This mobile and geo-referenced application made it possible to examine where pollution occurred. Belgrade as a big city with almost no wastewater treatment, had a clearly visible influence on the COD concentration.

Background

Carsten Riechelmann built the wooden catamaran, Esperanto, with the help of 90 volunteers from 20 different nations. This vessel is to be used as an environmental monitoring station. After working with s::can equipment in wastewater research, Riechelmann realised that the high measurement frequency of the spectro::lyser can be used as a new form of dynamic surface water monitoring.

s::can`s solution

The boat was equipped with the terminal con::cube, spectro::lyser, ammo::lyser, oxi::lyser and condu::lyser. An instrument carrier holds the four sensors in the (up to 15 km/h fast) water stream. To adapt to the 1 kWp solar system, a low voltage con::cube was installed together with the automatic cleaning system. The con::cube was connected to a Raspberry PI via Wi-Fi and the Modbus protocol. GPS coordinates were uploaded every two minutes together with the measured parameters to a database. The tool Grafana immediately visualised each parameter on a map. Laboratory samples in the first year and the data of the Joint Danube Survey 4 in the second year were used to validate and calibrate the online data.

Benefits

The s::can equipment was very stable and performed reliably. The low energy demand of the s::can system was ideal for use on board with a limited energy supply. A full dataset was delivered every 200m according to the average speed of the boat. The data could be checked directly on the con::cube or any mobile phone. The mobile and geo-referenced application made it possible to examine spots where pollution sources were expected. This helped decision makers get a real-time overview to locate pollution sources and take counter-actions.

The con::cube on the bridge deck is a compact, powerful and versatile terminal for data acquisition and station control. Integrating the newest processor technology, con::cube’s very flexible options for connecting to SCADA or any central database system make it perfect for station control. Up to 64 channels/ parameters can be displayed.

Leave a comment