Real-Time River Monitoring - City of Indianapolis

Project Overview

The White River, subject to accidental spills, combined sewer overflows, and pollution from industrial sites, requires constant monitoring to protect public health. There have been several reported fish kills on the River in recent years, and something needed to be done to maximize the effectiveness of the monitoring efforts.

The City of Indianapolis needed to create a system where they could quickly retrieve water quality data from various points and analyze it for possible signs of contamination. Therefore, the City contacted Fondriest Environmental to implement a real-time data collection network that provides officials with up-to-the-hour water quality data from multiple sites along the river.

System Description

Fondriest chose YSI 6600 multi-parameter sondes to monitor temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH, ORP, and turbidity. Data from all sites is transmitted to a centralized computer via cellular modems on NexSens 3100-iSIC data loggers.

iChart software stores the data in a secure database and automatically posts real-time data to a local network drive where it is easily viewed by city personnel. The software automatically generates custom reports at set intervals, which simplifies data management and review. For immediate spill detection, alarms are set-up to send emails or page someone when parameters are out of their acceptable ranges.

With NexSens continuous, real-time data, the City is able to quickly respond to water quality impairments and identify contamination sources, as well as improve data quality, while saving time and money.