Robotic Monitoring to Assess Impacts of Zebra Mussels and Assimilative Capacity for a River
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 5
Abstract
Water quality impacts of zebra mussel metabolism over an infested reach of the Seneca River, N.Y., are documented, based on vertically and temporally detailed robotic monitoring at the reach boundaries during the summer through early fall intervals of . Substantial reductions over the study reach are documented for dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, fluorometric chlorophyll , and turbidity, associated with the metabolism of this invader. Violations of New York State water quality standards for DO that would not be resolved by traditional manual monitoring programs were observed. The loss of assimilative capacity caused by the zebra mussel invasion is confounding rehabilitation efforts for a downstream polluted lake that had considered diversion of municipal effluent to the river. The critical role robotic monitoring units would play in an automated control system for an innovative strategy of time-variable river discharge of the effluent is described. Near-real time robotic monitoring provides a more detailed understanding of the impacts of zebra mussels on water quality than traditional less intensive manual measurements.
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Acknowledgments
B. A. Wagner, M. Spada, A. R. Prestigiacomo, and A. J. P. Effler deployed and maintained the robotic equipment. D. A. Matthews provided support for statistical analyses. The robots were acquired under EPA Grant No. UNSPECIFIEDCR-83091201-0. This research was funded by the USEPA. Operation and maintenance was funded by the Onondaga Lake Partnership. This is Contribution No. UNSPECIFIED243 of the Upstate Freshwater Institute.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 5 • May 2007
Pages: 498 - 506
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: May 12, 2005
Accepted: Mar 21, 2006
Published online: May 1, 2007
Published in print: May 2007
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