U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Date of this Version
2011
Citation
Published in REMEDIATION (Summer 2011) 89-101. DOI: 10.1002/rem.20291
Abstract
Environmental monitoring, data processing, and reporting methods are expensive, labor- and resource-intensive, time-consuming, and often inaccurate. An innovative project management platform was developed for integrating environmental monitoring sensors, telemetry, geographical information systems, models, and geostatistical algorithms for automatically generating contour maps and time-stamped renderings of sensor attributes and multivariate analyses.More specifically, algorithms converting sensor-derived head and solute concentration values allow for automated monitoring of mass flux and discharge to evaluate groundwater remediation system performance and contaminant discharges from aquifers to surface-water receptors. Life-cycle costs and carbon footprints were reduced due to the elimination of energy and labor expenditures associated with transportation, data collection, laboratory efforts, report generation, and information dissemination. A brief summary of two demonstrations of this sensor-based water resources management application is presented.