Water Quality Monitoring and Weather Data at Pampulha Lake-Brasil

Pampulha Lake is an artificial lake with an 18 km perimeter, located in the urban area of Belo Horizonte in Minas Gerais in Brazil.

It has suffered sewage problems and is in a serious state of eutrophication. This was a recreation area, frequented by swimmers, athletes, and families until the 1980's.

In 2010, OTT HydroMet's partner in Brasil, Hexis, began working with CETEC/SENAI (who along with the Mining Institute of Water is responsible for environmental monitoring).

Continuous Monitoring of Lake's Water Quality

This resulted in the installation of a buoy, equipped with an automatic profiling system. The project’s objective is the continuous monitoring of the lake’s water quality, with focus on improving it for the 2014 World Cup Games.

Recording Water Quality Data

ADCON, Lufft and OTT technologies (HYDROLAB DS5X multi-parameter probe and OTT DuoSens datalogger) were used in conjunction with one another to record the water quality data.  

The monitoring system is equipped with a DS5X Multiparameter sonde fitted with:

On Top of the Buoy

An SDI-12 is combined with the WS301 sensor for atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and an ADCON RG1 rain gauge for meteorological monitoring.

All sensors are connected to an OTT DuoSens datalogger with a GSM / GPRS modem, transmitting data hourly to the Mining Institute of Water - IGAN FTP server.

The SDI-12 serial communication between sensors and datalogger allows the monitoring of 6 water quality parameters, and 5 meteorological parameters using only 2 physical ports of the datalogger. The use of an integrated weather sensor facilitates the installation on top of the buoy.

The Sonde’s central cleaner and the use of a Luminescence Dissolved Oxygen sensor provide ample time between maintenance (cleaning) of sensors, even in highly polluted waters.

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