Affiliations: Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht Centre for Materials and
Coastal Research, Max-Planck-Straße 1, 21502 Geesthacht, Germany | 4H Jena Engineering GmbH, Mühlenstraße 126,
07745 Jena, Germany | Badan Lingkungan Hidup Prov Jatim, Indonesia
Abstract: The design, development and operation of an automated water quality
station at the banks of the Brantas River, Java, Indonesia is described. The
objective of the work was to prove that such a station can be operated in
tropical areas with trained local personnel. By designing and building a
modular system within a transportable container, a generalised system that can
be applied to other tropical or subtropical regions was developed. The main
problem in tropical waters — biofouling of sensors – was
solved by automated cleaning procedures that include pressure cleaning with
acidified water and chlorination. Low maintenance requirements could be
achieved by a completely automated operation and remote maintenance via phone
and internet. The different components of the system – water inlet,
hydraulic circuit, data management – are described in detail. The
performance and the costs of the automated water quality station are discussed.
Keywords: Indonesia, Brantas, river, estuary, water quality, oxygen, automated monitoring, biofouling
