Continuous Optical Monitoring of COD, BOD, TOC, and DOC in the Hackensack River Estuary
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Project Lead
Cheryl Yao
Problem
The Meadowlands Estuary has a long legacy of organic and inorganic contamination from landfills and past industrial activities. While sensor technologies now allow real-time monitoring of many water-quality parameters, chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total organic carbon (TOC), and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) still rely largely on laboratory analyses requiring sample collection, chemicals, and specialized instrumentation.
Objective
Evaluate the feasibility of continuous monitoring of COD, BOD, TOC, and DOC in the lower Hackensack River using optical fluorescence-based sensor technology calibrated against certified laboratory methods.
Strategy
- Deploy a Proteus multiparameter water-quality sensor at the Marina in the lower Hackensack River. Develop and validate site-specific calibration relationships between sensor responses and laboratory measurements of COD, BOD, TOC, and DOC.
- Compare continuous monitoring results with MRRI's historical long-term water-quality dataset.
Activities
- Deploy the Proteus sensor at the Marina and collect continuous water-quality data.
- Conduct at least 12 paired sampling events for COD, BOD, TOC, and DOC using certified laboratory methods to develop and validate calibration algorithms.
- Conduct monitoring during both leaf-off and leaf-on/growing seasons to evaluate seasonal variations. Compare sensor-derived results with laboratory measurements and historical monitoring data.
Outputs
- A continuous dataset describing temporal and seasonal variations of COD, BOD, TOC, and DOC in the lower Hackensack River.
- A site-specific calibration approach for estimating these parameters using continuous sensor measurements.
- A summary of the accuracy, advantages, limitations, and practical feasibility of continuous monitoring for long-term water-quality assessment.