Cyclists and joggers lap the University Lakes and notice ducks pecking at a bright, yellow floating object. But those people may not know the buoy’s objective is part of an $80,000 project funded by the Louisiana Board of Regents. The project aims to transmit water-quality data into University classrooms to provide additional education opportunities for students. The Environmental Monitoring Buoy looks like an oversized fishing cork bobbing in the water. It has suspended instruments measuring water temperature, pH levels, dissolved oxygen concentration, turbidity and algae concentration. The equipment collects data every 15 minutes but can be set to measure parameters in varied intervals. Jun Xu, associate professor of hydrology, initiated the project and worked with engineers Friday to complete the installation. Xu is testing data transmission accuracy and said he hopes the equipment is functioning properly by the end of the week. Xu said the project has three purposes with student education topping the list. He said he plans to train students in his water hydrology courses to analyze the data and apply it to textbook information. He said engineering, oceanography and biology courses can also utilize the data. “Many departments have already been informed of the project,” Xu said. The second purpose of the project is for graduate students to conduct research – specifically those specializing in watershed hydrology. Watershed hydrology focuses on the water quality and flow of rural and urban water systems. Finally, he said he hopes the project will benefit public education. “We want to use this to increase public awareness about water quality problems,” Xu said. “Right now there is a high level of interest from residents living around the lakes because they want to maintain the lakes.” Xu explained a watershed is land where water drains into a stream, river or other body of water. Unlike agricultural watersheds, the campus and residencies skirting the University Lakes make the system an urban watershed. So Xu said increased chemical run-off from the nearby road and yards is rising pollutant levels. But the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has plans for an estimated $8 million project to drain the lakes in 2009. This may have some area residents wondering why the University implemented expensive water-quality monitors in a lake system that could be dry by next year, according to a tentative lake clean-up feasibility report. Xu said the money will not be wasted if the University drains the lakes. “I doubt they will start draining in 2009,” Xu said. “We will put the equipment back in and basically see if the water quality was really improved or not.” Xu said comparing pre-draining data and post-draining data will confirm the million dollar project’s success. Once Xu confirms data accuracy, he hopes to set up a digital display on the public beach between Stanford Avenue and the lakes showing the water quality measurements. Xu said he intends to write a proposal for funding support. “It will be for the general public, people who fish, joggers and residents who live around the lake,” Xu said. Xu said students can expect professors to begin using the data in classrooms in fall 2009. Kyle Waits, Gulf Coast regional representative for Yellow Springs Instruments, said he has been working with Xu for the project. YSI supplied the project equipment and works with the University on several projects. “We are thrilled to be associated with LSU for the project,” Waits said.
—-Contact Natalie Messina at [email protected]