Grantee Research Project Results
MAP-HABS- An Innovative Platform for the Early and Ongoing Detection of Harmful Algal Blooms.
EPA Grant Number: SU840156Title: MAP-HABS- An Innovative Platform for the Early and Ongoing Detection of Harmful Algal Blooms.
Investigators: Reisfeld, Brad , Hall, Ed , Simske, Steve
Institution: Colorado State University
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: I
Project Period: December 1, 2020 through November 30, 2021 (Extended to November 30, 2022)
Project Amount: $25,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2020) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: P3 Awards , P3 Challenge Area - Safe and Sustainable Water Resources
Description:
Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are an increasingly-significant threat to human, animal, and environmental health through the release of toxins that contaminate drinking water supplies and bodies of water across the United States. Toxins associated with HABs have been implicated in human and animal illness in at least 43 states and economic losses resulting from HABs have exceeded $1 billion dollars per year in the U.S. alone.
Alarmingly, as water temperatures rise owing to climate change, the incidence of HABs is expected to increase, as are associated human illnesses, sickness and death of animals, and economic damages related to loss of revenues, decreased property values, and increased drinking-water treatment costs. Though the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Environmental Protection Agency have largescale efforts in place to monitor and forecast HABs, reliable sensing platforms for detecting HABs and their harmful products are generally too expensive or require too much expertise to be widely deployed, maintained, and monitored.
Objective:
The long-term objective of our research program is to develop and demonstrate a low-cost sensing device that can provide accurate and timely data to a wide range of stakeholders (e.g., farmers and ranchers, water resource managers, water quality regulators, and environmental and public health professionals) regarding the presence or likelihood of HABs in bodies of water and water supplies of concern. This device, the Mobile Autonomous Platform for Harmful Algal Bloom Sensing (MAPHABS),
will be a compact, autonomous, solar-powered, floating robot equipped with a variety of sensors and global positioning system components that allow rapid detection and communication of the presence of HABs. For increased dissemination of acquired data, the formats and communications protocols used by the device will be designed such that information can eventually be integrated into national systems like the ‘Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring System’ and ‘One Health Harmful Algal Bloom System’. The objective of this Phase I P3 project is to develop and demonstrate a prototype device with many of the essential features of the MAP-HABS.
Approach:
Sensing and monitoring HABs is essential for developing scientifically sound plans and implementing measures to safeguard health and assure water resource sustainability. This project will lead to a technology to help enable this capability. In addition, it will facilitate the development of educational materials that communicate the significance and key attributes of HABs and the project’s linkages to P3 and sustainability. These materials will be an integral part of student training for the project and will also be distributed to our partners.
Expected Results:
Our team will collaborate with In-Situ Inc. (a designer and manufacturer of water quantity and quality instrumentation for groundwater, surface water, and coastal waters), Metrohm Raman (a developer and manufacturer of devices and sensors used in analytical chemistry), and community stakeholders to develop a working prototype with many of the essential features of the MAP-HABS. The prototype device will be demonstrated to the team and stakeholders on an ongoing basis and at the annual ‘E-Days Showcase’: an event in which all capstone design projects across the college of engineering are displayed and judged.
Publications and Presentations:
Publications have been submitted on this project: View all 3 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
OHHABS, HABMS, NOAA, EPA, wireless sensor network, GPS, marine algal toxins, noxious phytoplankton, cyanobacteria, benthic algae, macroalgaeProgress and Final Reports:
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.