Gone is the day that the No. 1 job of a buoy is to show boats where to go on a lake and — more importantly — where not to go.
Thanks to a $40,000 state grant, the White Lake Association is deploying a “smart buoy” near the Muskegon County lake’s deepest point to accomplish a plethora of high-tech, monitoring tasks “24/7” dedicated to improving and enhancing the water quality.
And the public is invited to its 4 p.m. launch on Saturday, May 10, at Whitehall’s Goodrich Park at the east end of the lake.
Created by Nexsens Technology of Fairborn, Ohio, the “smart buoy” (officially an XB-200 data buoy) is housed in a bright yellow frame that is resistant to the powerful forces of nature (including White Lake’s roughest waters), is powered by three solar panels, weighs 70 pounds, is 30 inches in diameter, and floats 30 inches above water with flashing night lights. Equipped with a variety of water-quality sensors, it will be moored in about 70 feet of water halfway to the Lake Michigan channel.
So what will it do? As of now, according to Jim DeBoer of Montague, the chief science officer of the White Lake Association, the “smart buoy” will constantly monitor the wind, air temperature, humidity, water temperature every five feet to the lake bottom, the level of dissolved oxygen at the various depths, the intensity of algae blooms, pollution content, and other similar water-quality indicators. It can be easily relocated if needed.
“All of this data will be transmitted every 30 minutes to the association’s web page and can be accessed that way by the public,” DeBoer says, according to the parameters of the grant, which was awarded by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy’s Nonpoint Source Program through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
But that should be “just for starters,” DeBoer says, because of the “smart buoy’s” potential and expansion capabilities. “More accurate water-quality monitoring and recording is very important,” he says, but there are other benefits that will accrue if — and when — it becomes fully functional.
“Fishermen will be interested in the water temperature at the various depths,” he says. “Boaters and sailors will want to know about wind speed and direction. Teachers will want to link their students to projects that utilize the buoy’s data. All of this will be available on a weekly basis via our web page.”
However, he sees that as only a first step toward the ultimate objective — a “public portal package” that would allow the people to directly access the data “in real time” via their cell phones or home computers. The “smart buoy” can also add additional electronic sensors to expand its future monitoring capabilities. The association is in search of an additional grant and financial support to make these options a reality for White Lake-area residents.
The White Lake Association is composed of hundreds of area residents who use their talents and resources “to preserve the natural beauty of the lake as well as the public trust. It is dedicated to maintaining and improving the quality of White Lake for the health of its residents and wildlife through monitoring and education.”
For more information, contact Jim DeBoer at 1-520-977-1470 or [email protected]
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