Several buoys have been deployed in the Potomac, Anacostia and Shenandoah rivers that will capture important data on water quality and upload it to the internet.
That might sound routine, but a new dashboard launched Wednesday will let anyone monitor the water condition and quality in real time.
The Reservoir Center for Water Solutions in the Navy Yard helped create the dashboard, which allows users to log onto their computer or mobile device and access data uploaded from the floating monitors.
“Being able to monitor the quality of our water is a really important thing for us to do because we know it is fragile,” said D.C. Council Member Charles Allen, of Ward 6.
Allen pointed to the disastrous sewage spill in the Anacostia River Jan. 19 as a reason why quick access to data is needed.
“For the person who’s just trying to figure out, ‘Can I go sailing today? Can I go jump on a paddleboard, can I get in a kayak or canoe and get out on the water? Can I go fishing today?’ It’s really accessible information,” Allen said.
The company Xylem Water Solutions donated several “Bobs,” named that because they look like yellow and white fishing bobbers, according to the initiative.
They will be monitored and maintained by several local water quality advocacy groups which partnered with Reservoir Center on the program: the Anacostia Watershed Society, the Anacostia Riverkeeper and the Potomac Riverkeeper Network.
Data including water temperature, salinity, turbidity (cloudiness) and other pollution measures will be uploaded from the Bob to the internet. The data will also be saved so experts can track any changes in the information over time.
Virginia Rep. Don Beyer, who grew up on the Potomac River, had high praise for the innovation and said it will be a key tool in monitoring the health of the rivers.
“The whole notion of being able to report on a daily basis — an hourly basis — what’s happening in the river makes an enormous difference,” Beyer said.
The real-time data is available at water-quality.reservoircenter.org. Once there, you click on “view map” and select the buoy of your choice.
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