Water Quality Monitor

In the photo above, the cylindrical container being lowered into the water is a water quality probe developed by NASA's Langley Research Center for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in an applications engineering project. It is part of a system- which also includes recording equipment in the helicopter-for on-the-spot analysis of water samples. It gives EPA immediate and more accurate information than the earlier method, in which samples are transported to a lab for analysis. Designed primarily for rapid assessment of hazardous spills in coastal and inland waters, the system provides a wide range of biological and chemical information relative to water pollution.