Real-time quality monitoring by remote sensing of contaminated water-bodies: Waste stabilization pond effluent

The hypothesis of obtaining real-time water quality information was verified by monitoring a wastewater treatment facility consisting of a series of stabilization ponds, differing in quality and an adjacent reservoir. The changes in reflectance of the wastewater were the result of quality variations as expressed primarily by the suspended solids content, along the course of treatment. The variations in the wastewater quality along the treatment course, as well as in the reservoir at the end of the system are comparable with those in natural high quality water bodies. The importance of the proposed method is that it can promote better decision making with regards to heavily contaminated water bodies.