Monitoring seawater pollution

It aims to effectively and quickly detect worrisome levels of pollution in order to help the better management of our oceans and coastal areas, as well as work towards solving the problem of seawater pollution.

“The idea behind our research is to develop a device that will be place on a buoy in the ocean and that will be able to analyse the quality of seawater in real-time and without the intervention of men,” said Professor Palleschi, coordinator of the project.

He added: “Our device will be able to alert, through wireless connection, about water pollution in two hours instead of up to five days.”

The sensors developed by the team allow the device to detect dangerous substances listed under the Water Framework Directive.

This device will be able to detect four categories of pollutants, while all the data collected by the sensors are stored locally in coastal buoys and platforms and will be forwarded to a remote Central Node through a wireless connection.

This real-time information, which can take the form of alerts, will allow competent authorities and professionals to make informed and quick response decisions in terms of ocean management.