Groundwater can be an important source of associated contaminants in coastal waters and estuaries – but it’s difficult to track submarine groundwater discharge. Working with Dr. Paul Lee and SDII Engineering of Tampa, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has developed a new instrument to help estimate groundwater flow beneath surface water bodies. The “Seepmeter” allows for the precise measurement of small water volumes moving into benthic sediments or discharging from sediments beneath surface water bodies.
The Seep Meter consists of one to three deployable 12-inch PVC collection domes, which are set into bottom sediments and connected via tubing to an extremely sensitive bi-directional flow measurement sensor capable of detecting flows as low as 200 microliters per minute. An onboard datalogger records the seepage data which can then be uploaded into a PC for analysis.
News brief originally published Winter 2010.
[su_divider]