Critical water sources up and down the Atlantic seaboard are now monitored and protected with some of the newest technology in water quality instrumentation.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP), EPSCoR and the University of New Hampshire, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services, North Carolina, have deployed YSI's EXO sondes for continuous water quality monitoring.
NYC DEP has been checking the water quality for more than 100 years. With 20 new EXO sondes, the organization will continue to measure the water quality of several important water bodies around New York City: New York Harbor, East River, Gowanus Canal (a Superfund site) and Jamaica Bay. These water bodies are used for recreation, commerce and wastewater discharge.
"Equipment that allows us to obtain accurate and reliable data in an estuarine environment is important to us. The EXO sondes are powerful tools that provide us with the ability to provide real-time data to better serve our mission of monitoring water quality in New York Harbor," said Beau Ranheim, Section Chief, Marine Sciences, NYC DEP.
The sondes are installed with portable "job boxes" that contain DCPs and cellular modems transmitting the data real-time. Eventually, the data will be shared with the public and the network of sondes will expand.
A network of aquatic monitors in New Hampshire tracks the complex interaction of water, land, and people over time---creating opportunities to address upcoming challenges to the ecosystem.
"We are using 10 EXO2 sondes in a network that evaluates the effect of land-use on ecosystem function across the state of New Hampshire. The EXO instruments are deployed in headwater streams and mainstem rivers in urban, agricultural, and forested areas. The sensors provide fDOM, Turbidity, Conductivity, Temperature, pH and Dissolved Oxygen data with high temporal resolution (every 15 minutes), aiding researchers and policymakers in assessing the impact of human activities on water quality," explained Adam Baumann, Research Scientist at the University of New Hampshire, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services continuously monitors North Carolina streams and rivers for pollution and run-off through its CMANN alert network. The organization has added EXO sondes for short-term pollution detection throughout Charlotte, NC, and "we plan to upgrade 36 real-time water quality monitoring stations with EXO sondes for pollution detection and for the assessment of long-term water quality trends in the streams and drinking water reservoirs," said Olivia Edwards, Senior Environmental Specialist, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services Water Quality Program.
"We're excited to bring this new, advanced platform to the water monitoring community," said Tim Finegan, previous Director Environmental Monitoring at YSI. "We began the development of EXO by listening to user feedback and now we're able to deliver a solution that meets a variety of water monitoring needs---including deeper depths; more rugged materials and design to extend deployment times; and streamlined calibration procedures to save users time."
Customer feedback has played a key role in EXO's adoption and success. Feedback throughout the design process helped R&D focus on solving customer problems and create a monitoring platform (sondes, smart sensors, handheld display, and new software) that has been embraced by water professionals who want to collect vitally important water quality data at significantly lower operating costs and with improved data quality.
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