May 24, 2022, For the second year, USGS scientists have installed and are testing the effectiveness of an innovative system to monitor bacteria concentrations in near real-time on the Delaware River. The system was re-deployed earlier this month at Pyne Point Park in Camden County, New Jersey.
USGS data could help water resource managers and local government agencies as they make decisions focused on reviving the river and protecting public health, including determining the safety of recreational activities.
Bacteria levels in this area can change rapidly, and this system—which is one of the first in the nation—has the potential to collect water samples on demand and provide results the same day. It can also be set up to take samples during regular intervals, such as daily. Sources of bacteria can include wastewater, animal waste and other pollution from nearby communities.
More traditional bacteria monitoring practices typically take three days and involve scientists travelling to a site and manually collecting samples for analysis in a lab. The new state-of-the-art system will be deployed through the summer, after which scientists will evaluate the technology and its effectiveness. As part of that evaluation, USGS scientists will manually collect water samples simultaneously with the new system and compare results to determine the system’s accuracy.
The USGS is collaborating with the Delaware River Basin Commission on this effort.
