Blue Water Satellite imagery helping to Solve Algae and Nutrient Problems in California Lake

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio, April 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Enhanced satellite imagery from Blue Water Satellite (http://www.bluewatersatellite.com/) of Bowling Green, Ohio, similar to what NASA has used on Mars missions, is being used as a powerful assessment tool for lake communities and organizations working to make near-term impact on the harmful algal bloom problems in our nation's water bodies.

In Clear Lake California (located about 120 miles north of San Francisco and one of the state's best fishing, wildlife and bird watching environments), phosphorus from a variety of sources has accelerated a growing, wide spread presence of foul smelling algae throughout the lake.  Clear Lake decided to use enhanced satellite images to help them understand sources of the phosphorus as well as the best places for targeting remediation efforts.  "Our satellite images have located phosphorus in water and potential sources on land which contribute to harmful algal blooms in Clear Lake," states Milt Baker, CEO of Blue Water Satellite.  "Our algorithmically-enhanced images are allowing them to pinpoint GPS coordinates for remediation, as well as identify potential areas in the surrounding watershed that are the sources of run-off into the water body." The Clear Lake data can be viewed at http://gispublic.co.lake.ca.us/BWS/

Today land based phosphorus measurements are made by digging soil samples and sending them to a laboratory. In contrast, Satellite imagery is able to provide a comprehensive view of Clear Lake's 305,000-acre watershed with 5 samples per acre.

Baker believes that communities and responsible parties like Clear Lake are on the right track by gaining a deeper picture of what is happening in and around the water body as part of their water quality improvement development process.  "Our images give Clear Lake insights they didn't have before about problem areas.  It is actionable intelligence enabling best management practices to address the problem," continued Baker.

Today the U.S. EPA estimates 50% of freshwater lakes and reservoirs are eutrophic (having excess nutrients which can foster algae growth) as compared to approximately 10-20% of lakes in 1972.

Lake communities, local stakeholders, taxpayers, government and the EPA are all in agreement that better solutions for making near term-impact on harmful algal blooms must be developed.   Algorithmically enhanced satellite images may be the answer.  "Our satellite image technology is the perfect starting point for new solutions because it can tell you what happened in the past, what's happening now, and allows you to measure progress in the future," concluded Baker.  "When you have new insights about your water body and watershed, it's a lot easier to develop cost effective remediation solutions."

Blue Water Satellite is the world's leading provider of enhanced satellite imagery for monitoring land and water quality. Blue Water Satellite provides never-seen-before imagery and data for the characterization and analysis of land and water resources.

See More about Clear Lake's use of Satellites to solve their problem with harmful algal blooms here, http://baynature.org/articles/satellites-to-the-rescue-for-clear-lake-algae-problems/  Learn more about Blue Water Satellite's capabilities for water body assessment and analysis here, http://www.bluewatersatellite.com/satellite-imaging-solutions/water-body-analysis

Reid McEwen
Blue Water Satellite
Bowling Green, OH USA
[email protected] 
855-885-5648 ext 104

SOURCE Blue Water Satellite

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