Automated monitoring of groundwater contamination along salted roads

Abstract

This report describes the results from preliminary laboratory investigations of ground water samples obtained during the autumn of 2004 from national road 67 Heby in Sweden, using a novel liquid sensor technology, "Electronic Tongue" (ET), and a commercial conductivity probe. Partial least squares regression (PLS) combined with principal component analysis (PCA) was used to build a model to quantify ET data using ion concentrations determined by conventional laboratory analysis as well as measured conductivity data. Results showed very good correlation between ET data and chlorine concentrations in field samples as well as conductivity data. In addition to chlorine concentration, results also indicated that ET has the potential to detect and warn for other types of contaminants in ground water. The reports also describes the planned installation in June 2005 of a complete system for remote monitoring of chloride concentration via the Internet using a similar technology platform as for the VTI frost monitoring system (Tjäl 2000)