Cost-Benefit Analysis of Alternative Ocean Observing Platforms for Coastal Water Quality Monitoring

Author

Dragos, Paul ; Mickelson, Michael ; Albro, Carl ; Fitzpatrick, Matthew

Author_Institution

Battelle Ocean Sci., Duxbury, MA

fYear

2006

fDate

18-21 Sept. 2006

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

6

Abstract

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) has been conducting an ambient marine monitoring program since 1992 to monitor the impact of treated municipal waste water effluent on the water quality of Massachusetts Bay. The monitoring program looks extensively at possible effects of the discharge, including eutrophication impacts such as nuisance algal blooms and hypoxia, and ecosystem impacts on plankton communities. MWRA intends to install a system for continuous real-time water quality monitoring, possibly in the form of an instrumented mooring. If successful, the system will improve the quality of the monitoring data and may reduce the need for MWRA´s shipboard surveys (12/yr). To rationally evaluate alternatives, a review of the current state of the science of sensor and mooring systems technology along with a cost-benefit analysis was performed

Keywords

marine engineering; marine pollution; oceanographic regions; water resources; MWRA; Massachusetts Bay; Massachusetts Water Resources Authority; algal blooms; coastal water quality monitoring; cost-benefit analysis; ecosystem impacts; eutrophication impacts; hypoxia; marine monitoring program; mooring system; municipal waste water effluent; ocean observing platforms; plankton communities; sensor system; shipboard surveys; Cost benefit analysis; Ecosystems; Effluents; Marine vegetation; Monitoring; Oceans; Real time systems; Sea measurements; Wastewater treatment; Water resources;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

OCEANS 2006

Conference_Location

Boston, MA

Print_ISBN

1-4244-0114-3

Electronic_ISBN

1-4244-0115-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/OCEANS.2006.306854

Filename

4099009