Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2009DC105B

Application of Spatiotemporal Informatics to Water Quality (Phase II)

Institute: District of Columbia
Year Established: 2009 Start Date: 2009-03-01 End Date: 2010-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $14,380 Total Non-Federal Funds: $31,009

Principal Investigators: Byunggu Yu, Pradeep Behera

Abstract: Recent developments and innovations in spatiotemporal informatics (storage, update, and retrieval of continuously changing data) and relevant sensor technologies can provide exciting opportunities and innovations in urban water resource management and decision making applications. For example, for the implementation of the Long Term Control Plan (LTCP) that addresses the combined sewer overflows and storm water discharges problems in the District of Columbia, such emerging technology and developments can significantly enhance and improve the monitoring and decision making processes. The objective of this multidisciplinary (Civil Engineering and Computer Science and Information Technology) project is to devise a highly efficient and effective technology for stormwater quantity and quality monitoring by taking advantage of much emerging advances in spatiotemporal informatics and relevant sensor technologies. The benefits of the project include the following: (1) highly cost-efficient and continuous monitoring of the runoff quantity and quality; (2) data and tools for real-time analysis and sharing of raw runoff data for better emergency and maintenance decisions; (3) lab and field training, education, and research. Upon completion, this proposed project will benefit the District of Columbia in the development and implementation of a watershed wide innovative stormwater quantity and quality water quality monitoring system to measure flow and water quality parameters at the combined and separated sewer outfalls. In the Phase I of the project, a competitive proposal was developed and submitted to NSF for extramural funding. The peer review identified as one of the innovative proposal with intellectual merit, however recommended that the proposal should include more preliminary experimentation. The Phase II of the proposal includes the laboratory experimentations and the development of an improved proposal with a submission to the NSF Sensor Network program in year 2009.