Novel technologies for in situ environmental monitoring: linking sensor development to improved pollutant transport models.

随着水需求的增长和人口压力的增加，地表水的质量在全世界变得越来越令人担忧。认识到这一点，欧盟立法(水框架指令)现在要求改善欧洲淡水的化学和生态状况。对水质的主要影响是集水区土壤和岩石中的生物和化学反应，以及溪流、河流和湖泊中的类似反应。水通过集水区的路径对决定湖泊和河流的水量和水质也很重要。所有这些影响都受到环境变化的影响：气候变化；农业和其他土地利用；工业、交通和城市化的发展。这反过来会影响水的数量和质量，但预测这种变化的影响是困难的。各种计算机模型已经被用来预测这些变化的影响，并取得了一些成功。然而，众所周知，它们在预测未来水质趋势方面存在严重局限性：例如，不同的模型可能同样擅长解释目前的情况，但在遇到未来时，可能会产生非常不同的预测。开发改进模型的一种方法是在模型中纳入对环境过程的更好理解，这可以通过对溪流和河流进行更详细的环境测量来实现。这反过来又要求开发创新的测量方法。该项目的重点是利用分析科学的最新发展，开发一种在湖泊和河流中进行高频化学测量的系统，该系统在现场条件下将更便宜、更可靠，并且具有低功耗和低试剂消耗。这应该使收集更详细的数据成为可能，然后可以用这些数据来开发改进的预测模型，可能需要相当新的方法。这是一个跨学科的项目，涉及来自雷丁大学和赫尔大学、生态和水文学中心以及环境机构的化学家、工程师和环境模型师。在过去的几年里，在缩小和重新设计用于化学分析的仪器方面取得了相当大的进展，使其能够安装在大约4x4厘米大小的玻璃或塑料平板上--所谓的芯片实验室技术。该项目将开发这项技术来测量更多对环境重要的物质，并使设备坚固耐用，以便在现场使用。这些测量将与传统技术进行比较，并将努力提高设备的精确度、精密度和稳定性，直到我们拥有可行的分析系统。新设备和传统设备产生的数据将用于模型开发，并加强对影响水质和水量的过程的了解。如果成功，该项目将产生广泛的应用和好处。除了提高预测环境变化影响的能力外，一种廉价和可靠的水质监测方法将有助于监管机构、工业和农业监测和减轻其对环境的影响，并提供一种早期检测受污染的供水的方法，例如有毒藻类大量繁殖或恐怖主义行为。低功耗要求意味着，在远离电源的情况下进行测量成为了一项实用的提议，在发展中国家和英国都有潜在的应用前景。这些设备可以用来监测工业过程中水流的化学成分，并可能导致商业产品的开发，为英国经济和高等教育部门提供收入。

The quality of surface waters is becoming of increasing concern worldwide as demand for water grows and population pressures increase. Recognising this, EU legislation (the Water Framework Directive) now requires improvements in the chemical and ecological status of European freshwaters. The primary influences on water quality are biological and chemical reactions in the soils and rocks of water catchment areas, and similar reactions in streams, rivers and lakes. The pathways water takes through catchment areas are also important in determining both the quantity and quality of water in lakes and rivers. All these influences are being affected by environmental change: in climate; in agriculture and other land uses; and in the development of industry, transport and urbanisation. This is in turn affecting water quantity and quality, but predicting the effect of such changes is difficult. Various computer models have been used to predict the effects of these changes, with some success. However, it has been known for some time that they have severe limitations in predicting future trends in water quality: for instance, different models may be equally good at explaining the present situation, but may produce very different predictions when run into the future. One way to develop improved models is to incorporate into them a better understanding of environmental processes which can be achieved through making more detailed environmental measurements on streams and rivers. This in turn requires the development of innovative methods of measurement. The focus of this project is to take advantage of recent developments in analytical science to develop a system for making high-frequency chemical measurements in lakes and rivers which will be cheaper, more reliable under field conditions, and have low power and reagent consumption. This should make it possible to collect much more detailed data, which can then be used to develop improved predictive models, possibly requiring quite new approaches. This is an interdisciplinary project involving chemists, engineers and environmental modellers from the Universities of Reading and Hull, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the Environment Agency.Over the last few years, considerable progress has been made in shrinking and redesigning apparatus used for chemical analysis so it can fit on a glass or plastic plate about 4 x 4 cm in size - the so called lab on a chip technology. This project will develop this technique to measure more substances of environmental importance, and ruggedize the equipment so it can be used in the field. The measurements will be compared with conventional technology, and effort will be put in to improving the accuracy, precision and stability of the equipment until we have a viable analysis system. The data generated by both new and conventional equipment will be used for model development and to improve understanding of the processes influencing water quality and quantity.If successful, the project should lead to a wide range of applications and benefits. As well as an improved ability to predict the effects of environmental change, a cheap and reliable method for monitoring water quality will help regulatory agencies, industries and agriculture monitor and mitigate their environmental impacts, and provide a method for the early detection of polluted water supplies, for instance from toxic algal blooms or acts of terrorism. The low power requirements mean that measurements away from mains power supplies become a practical proposition, with potential applications in developing countries as well as the UK. The devices could be used to monitor the chemistry of water streams in industrial processes, and may lead to the development of a commercial product, providing income to the UK economy and the higher education sector.