EcoSustain

The objective of the EcoSustain project, financed by the INTERREG MED program, is to test two methods of continuous measurement of water quality to determine what factors change its concentrations and to facilitate decision-making in different cases. The technologies developed are expected to have applications in decision-making related to water quality in several water bodies (lakes, rivers or marine environments).

The two measuring methods are based on short-term and long-term measurements.

The proposed STMS - Short-term monitoring solution- provides continuous monitoring of water quality by taking data such as pH, ammonia, turbidity, blue-green algae, chlorides, etc. with buoys equipped with sensors. The notification of the measurements is done through a software and graphical interface that the user can configure through any mobile device to display and process the data.

The long-term measurement proposal (LTMS - Long-term monitoring) includes the development of a methodology and an integrated solution for satellite monitoring of environmental indicators, through Earth observation techniques and the processing of satellite images.

We work in L’Albufera Natura Park, one of the five protected areas where the project is developed, using the short-term measurement system; specifically, in Tancat de Milia, an artificial wetland, which provides clean water to the Albufera lake, where we measure how long it takes to the clean effluent (coming from the artificial wetland) to dilute with the lake water and the time it takes for this dilution to disappear, as well as whether the contributions improve the conditions of the L’Albufera water.