Is your water acidic or basic? Does it have a lot of oxygen, a little; or something in-between? What is the water temperature, is it salty, and how cloudy is it? What is the concentration of chlorophyll-containing algae floating around?
The RMI EPA will start answering these questions when taking routine water samples from water sources around the RMI, and with instruments such as data sondes. Having read up on water resource issues in the RMI prior to arriving from the United States, Dr. Bill Shuster, a US Environmental Protection Agency official on detail to the US Embassy-Majuro, thought that new instruments might fill a critical data gap in RMI EPA water monitoring programs.
He brought along two of these instruments for the RMI EPA to get familiar and work with.
What does a data sonde do? This instrument takes a whole laboratory full of measuring equipment and puts it all into a portable, battery-powered unit that is ready for use in the field. It is a lot like the bunch of measurements that doctors conduct on their patients, except for environmental purposes. These units can be used in saltwater and freshwater resources.
Read more about this in the November 6, 2015 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.