News
Heavy rainfall event
Heavy rains crossed the HOAL catchment area last week. In 24 hours, 160 mm of...
Sap flow measurements on trees
For measuring transpiration on trees, so called "Sap Flow sensors" were installed. In sum six...
Modification work at the catchment outlet - MW
As the catchment outlet (MW) is one of our most important measurment points, a new radar sensor is now...
Maintenance works and eddy covariance calibration
In august Borbala Szeles, Patrick Hogan and Lovrenc Pavlin were on site, supported by...
Heavy rainfall event - flooding video
As predicted last weekend heavy rain fall occured in eastern Austria. Also the HOAL was affected by high...
Science Questions – How can Faecal Pollution be Monitored in Real Time?
Microbial water safety management can be enhanced by real time detection of faecal pollution from enzymatic activity. Such measurements will also shed light on microbial transport processes at the catchment scale.
The HOAL is an ideal test bed for such automated measuring devices due to its highly dynamic runoff, sediment concentrations and bacterial contamination from manure.
Four enzymatic analysers with two different designs have been set up at the catchment outlet. The devices sample stream water at intervals of 1 or 3 hours. The results for different setups are compared with laboratory analyses in order to optimise the strengths of the instruments in a real time mode.
Interpretation of the faecal indicators in the context of physical and chemical parameters for events with contrasting characteristics (e.g. fast and short response times, dry and wet antecedent soil moisture) sheds light on microbial pollution processes. Manure events and the fate of faecal pollution can be identified from the time dynamics of the indicator.
