[Coral-List] Portable, easy to use water testing kits

[Douglas Fenner]

Ben,
    You can still use turbidity or visibility measures if you want, since
nutrients often cause the growth of phytoplankton which reduce visibility.
Reduced water circulation in harbors also can allow nutrients to build
instead of being flushed by open ocean water.  A gradient of visibility
from the inner bay to the open ocean can point towards a source area.  You
can always measure nutrients directly as well as visibility/turbidity.  I
can't advise on how best to measure nutrients or chemical pollutants, but
I'm sure others can.  I'm under the impression that some nutrient test kits
for fresh water don't work in salt water.
Cheers,  Doug

On Tue, Feb 14, 2017 at 11:07 AM, Benjamin Cowburn <
benjamindcowburn at googlemail.com> wrote:

> Thanks Doug,
> Sediment is something I want to test, but I think nutrients are an
> important and separate point. The goal is for this test to be used for
> regular monitoring by a govt. dept. in East Africa, hence it needs to be
> simple and easy to use and cheap enough to do regularly. The area where I'm
> working is very arid, so freshwater plumes are not really a thing. We are
> concerned about nutrients and pollution for a big city and port. How would
> you suggest we detect the pollution?
> Cheers,
> Benjo
>
> On Tue, Feb 14, 2017 at 3:56 PM, Douglas Fenner <
> douglasfennertassi at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Ben,
>>     A review of indicators of water quality on the Great Barrier Reef by
>> Fabricius et al found that turbidity (or water clarity or visibility) was
>> the best single indicator among 38 tested.  They write in their abstract
>> "Turbidity was the best predictor of biota"  It is very low tech, cheap,
>> quick and easy to take.  Disadvantages are that it doesn't impress people
>> as being fancy technical science, and it can't differentiate causes, like
>> plankton and nutrients, vs sediment, vs chemical pollution, etc.  One of
>> the problems for testing with things like nutrients is that they come in
>> pulses, and you have to test frequently to catch pulses.  Also, it would
>> take a lot of expensive sampling to detect spatial patterns, and if you
>> don't have the spatial pattern you can miss the hot spots (and clean
>> areas).  At least sediment may be visible from the shore or a boat or a
>> plane and so the spatial and temporal patterns can be seen.  A simple photo
>> can show you patterns that would take hundreds or thousands of samples to
>> detect.  Runoff is typically fresh water, so it floats on the surface and
>> at least initially the finest sediment is suspended in that water at the
>> surface, making it easy to see from the air.  Sediment pulse events might
>> suggest some aspects of the spatial and temporal patterns of nutrient
>> runoff as well, since they may both be correlated with rain-produced runoff
>> events.  Of course, some rivers might have lots of sediment runoff but
>> little nutrient runoff, and others the opposite.
>>
>> Cheers,  Doug
>>
>> Fabricius et al 2012.  A bioindicator system for water quality on inshore
>> coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef.  Marine Pollution Bulletin 65:
>> 320-332.
>>
>> https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Katharina_Fabricius/pub
>> lication/305655161_Fabricius_Bioindicators_MPB_final_for_
>> ResearchGate/links/57982ac108ae33e89faedfaf.pdf
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 14, 2017 at 6:36 AM, Benjamin Cowburn <
>> benjamindcowburn at googlemail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>> I'm trying to find an easy and robust way of checking water quality (esp.
>>> nutrients) on a reef. I've found various kits available for aquarists
>>> e.g.
>>> this
>>> <http://www.swelluk.com/api-reef-master-test-kit/?gclid=Cj0K
>>> EQiA8orFBRCEpODivaOft_EBEiQAy3mlfaDNakIGStWelz_AxX2VOsySHUHE
>>> DzzSXMRLR7azNqUaAuMZ8P8HAQ>
>>> ..
>>> Are these appropriate for use in the field? Any recommendations or
>>> suggestions of how to do water quality testing, without a dedicated lab
>>> would be welcome!
>>> Cheers,
>>> Benjamin Cowburn
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Coral-List mailing list
>>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>>> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Douglas Fenner
>> Contractor for NOAA NMFS, and consultant
>> "have regulator, will travel"
>> PO Box 7390
>> Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA
>>
>> phone 1 684 622-7084 <(684)%20622-7084>
>>
>> Join the International Society for Reef Studies.  Membership includes a
>> subscription to the journal Coral Reefs, and there are discounts for pdf
>> subscriptions and developing countries.  Coral Reefs is the only journal
>> that is ALL coral reef articles, and it has amazingly LOW prices compared
>> to other journals.  Check it out!  www.fit.edu/isrs/
>>
>> "Belief in climate change is optional, participation is not."- Jim
>> Beever.   "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own
>> facts."- Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
>>
>> Last year was- again- the hottest year on record.
>> http://www.sciencemag.org/news/sifter/last-year-was-again-hottest-record
>>
>> 99 Reasons 2016 was a good year.  https://medium.com/future-cru
>> nch/99-reasons-why-2016-has-been-a-great-year-for-humanity
>> -8420debc2823#.9iznf7pfk  Check items 42-59.
>>
>> 43. Global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels did not grow
>> at all in 2016, for the third year in a row.  Scientific American
>> <http://futurecrunch.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6321feeb3ffd42b0e44a01616&id=18ef49d1e6&e=20926c12c5>
>>
>> 44. renewables now account for more newly installed capacity than any
>> other form of electricity in the world, including coal.. Gizmodo
>> <http://gizmodo.com/renewables-now-exceed-all-other-forms-of-new-power-gene-1788195297>
>>
>>
>


-- 
Douglas Fenner
Contractor for NOAA NMFS, and consultant
"have regulator, will travel"
PO Box 7390
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA

phone 1 684 622-7084

Join the International Society for Reef Studies.  Membership includes a
subscription to the journal Coral Reefs, and there are discounts for pdf
subscriptions and developing countries.  Coral Reefs is the only journal
that is ALL coral reef articles, and it has amazingly LOW prices compared
to other journals.  Check it out!  www.fit.edu/isrs/

"Belief in climate change is optional, participation is not."- Jim Beever.
  "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts."-
Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Last year was- again- the hottest year on record.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/sifter/last-year-was-again-hottest-record

99 Reasons 2016 was a good year.
https://medium.com/future-crunch/99-reasons-why-2016-has-been-a-great-year-for-humanity-8420debc2823#.9iznf7pfk
 Check items 42-59.

43. Global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels did not grow
at all in 2016, for the third year in a row.  Scientific American
<http://futurecrunch.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6321feeb3ffd42b0e44a01616&id=18ef49d1e6&e=20926c12c5>

44. renewables now account for more newly installed capacity than any other
form of electricity in the world, including coal.. Gizmodo
<http://gizmodo.com/renewables-now-exceed-all-other-forms-of-new-power-gene-1788195297>