Monitoring of Polluted Water Bodies by Remote Sensing

The purpose of this study is to evaluate a remote sensing method for real time monitoring of wastewater effluent. Reflectance in the range from 400 to 950 nm with a spectral resolution of 2 nm, simultaneously with turbidity, chlorophyll and total suspended matter contents were acquired in two wastewater systems: RUm and Naan, Israel. The reflectance spectra of wastewater effluent were investigated in order to develop algorithms for remote estimation of wastewater quality expressed as chlorophyll-a, bacteriochlorophyll-a, non-organic and total suspended matter concentrations. Reflectance height at 720 nm and an area above the base line from 670 to 950 nm were used in algorithms for chlorophyll-a assessment. An area under the base line, through 780 to 900 nm, was found to be a measure of bacteriochlorophyll-a. Reflectance around 570 nm and reflected light in the range 400 to 950 nm were used to assess total suspended matter concentration. For the first time quantitative remote assessment of waste waters quality is reported.