The National Centre for Coastal Research on Tuesday launched a buoy off the Cooum river and Marina beach to monitor seawater quality.
The buoy, deployed 2 km into the sea, will help monitor and forecast changes in seawater quality. The sensor-equipped beach buoy was placed off the Cooum river as pollutants reach the sea through the waterway.
NCCR’s director M.V. Ramanamurthy said checking beach water quality along the coast was imperative to learn about pollution, as the stretch near the coast was used for various needs, including fishing and recreation.
The buoy will monitor meteorological parameters such as humidity, wind speed and solar radiation, and have sensors to check current speed, sea surface temperature, wave period, wave height and wave direction. Seven water quality sensors, including temperature, conductivity, pH, turbidity and dissolved oxygen, will help measure pollution in coastal water, he said.
Real-time data will be transmitted once every half hour to the NCCR, and this will be shared on its website for public dissemination.
Pravakar Mishra, scientist, NCCR, said dissolved oxygen levels needed to be more than 5-7 mg/l for marine organisms to survive. Blue green algae sensors will monitor species in the marine environment.
There are also plans to install display boards near the Marina, with the help of the State government, to spread awareness about seawater quality.
“We plan to share reports on water quality analysis with State government agencies to chalk out remedial measures, depending on the data collated,” he said.
