Above: The YSI water quality monitoring facility deployed in Erakor Lagoon
In collaboration with the Vanuatu Water Department and the University of the South Pacific, a water quality monitoring instrument has been deployed in the Erakor Lagoon, near the hospital, in Port Vila to quantify the variability of the water quality and seasonal influences associated with the monsoon and then detect the impacts of nearby developments.
This instrument will continuously monitor parameters such as pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, turbidity and salinity. From now, every month the local team will retrieve it to clean the sensors to limit potential biofouling effects, calibrate the instrument, save the data, and then it will be redeploy at the same location. Monthly depth profiles of the water column structure are also measured at four different places in the lagoon to be served as a baseline and validate numerical models.
The outputs will provide valuable data on water quality in the lagoon. Data will be used to validate a numerical model that will inform the water quality of the full lagoon system with climate variation and will help to find adaptation solutions to reduce pollution.
Such information can be used to waste water management and inform pollution reduction policies.
Find out more about what the EcoAdapt project Coastal Processes theme is working on.
Above: The water quality instrumentation in place.