Clemson hosts environmental leaders for Intelligent River project

Published: June 6, 2012

CLEMSON — National and state environmental experts and legislative leaders will come to Clemson University June 12-13 to help focus the Intelligent River macroscope, a computer-based research instrument to study very large areas. The macroscope will be used to study the 312-mile length of the Savannah River.

The planning workshop will begin at 9 a.m. daily at the Madren Conference Center.

The project represents the most comprehensive digital network in a river basin in the United States. The university’s Institute for Applied Ecology, which is developing and deploying the macroscope, is holding the workshop to have federal and state agency input in planning and to discuss critical technical issues to ensure the macroscope will be a useful tool for environmental regulators and policymakers.

The macroscope will include a network of remote sensors able to collect, store and send data on river conditions ranging from water quality and flow to stormwater runoff and pollution discharges. Wireless transmitters would send data on temperature, water clarity, dissolved oxygen and other environmental indicators to Clemson, where the information would be processed and posted on the Internet. Anyone anywhere in the world could monitor the well-being of the river.

The research challenges are daunting: The goal is to deploy as many as 1,000 sensor platforms in the river. The results will create a flood of information that will have to be made meaningful.

Ecology institute director Gene Eidson said the workshop is vital to building relationships with the people who will use the river data. Eidson looks forward to hearing participant recommendations on how and where to set sensors, database development, regulatory requirements for data collection and the use of data and quality control and assurance. The second day, the discussion will focus on evaluating the best strategy for deployment and pilot use of data by agencies through the research period.

Stretching from mountains to the sea, the Savannah River slakes the thirst of a burgeoning population, dilutes wastewater from industry and sewage treatment plants, irrigates farms and is home for the animals and plants of the watershed.

“Our goal is optimize every drop of water — protecting the environment, nourishing the economy,” Eidson said. “We believe we can do it all, but you need data to do that. You need a system.”

The system is being built from scratch, created by an interdisciplinary team of scientists, including hardware developers, software engineers, river ecologists, information technologists, visual-effects designers, forestry and natural resource experts, and economists.

The project is funded by a $3 million Major Research Instrumentation Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF Award CNS-1126344) and Clemson University.

END