International Partnership Advances Water Quality Monitoring
Erin Hestir, director of CITRIS at UC Merced and an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Susan Ustin, a professor of environmental and resource sciences at UC Davis, are collaborating with CSIRO, the Australian national science agency, to test and improve a service to deliver water quality updates and forecasts.
A specialized AquaWatch Australia water quality sensor has been installed in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to monitor water delivered for agriculture and protect the region’s natural ecosystems. The sensor will work in tandem with satellite observations, confirming and calibrating its data to provide water quality information near real time.
“Using the sensor, we can estimate turbidity, an important water quality measurement for the critically endangered fish, the Delta smelt,” said Hestir.
“It can also be used to give insight into where contaminants of concern, such as mercury, may travel.”
Part of a recent Memorandum of Understanding between the commonwealth of Australia and the state of California to address climate change, the UC-led branch of the project supports the exchange of technical expertise and provides footing for the collaboration’s global vision of advancing water safety technology.