Project Summary

1. Project ID
Name	Remote Sensing of Septic Systems
Region	Gulf of Mexico Region
State	Gulf-wide
Location
Date of this update	9/1/00

2. Problem(s) addressed (check one or more)
Habitat Restoration/Protection
Wetlands
River systems
Beaches/Dunes
Offshore areas
Mangroves
Assisting Species at Risk
Pollution Mitigation
Non-Point Source Pollution
Other (describe)

3. Project description (100 words or less)

Description of Issue to be Resolved by the Project.

The EPA/GMP has an objective to conserve and enhance the water quality and ecological health of the Gulf coastal watersheds, estuaries and near coastal waters. It is well known that there are numerous residential septic systems around the land boundaries of these water bodies. It is also well known that when these septic systems do not operate properly, they contribute to the nutrient loading and harmful microorganism input to these water bodies. It is proposed that airborne remote sensing techniques be employed to enhance the detection of malfunctioning septic systems as well as to monitor such systems. It is expected that this type of detection and monitoring could be used to provide correlating or supporting data in assessing the overall condition of a particular water body. Also, because such a technique would be based on monitoring the health or vigor of the ground cover vegetation and the near shore vegetation, it may also prove useful for sea grass and indigenous species monitoring.

Description of the Proposed Project.

The project objective would be to identify the best spectral bands for an airborne imaging system to provide the greatest potential to identify a septic system as malfunctioning, and to monitor relative changes in a system to allow an estimate of the level of malfunction. To accomplish this objective, the reflectance spectra of a number of common land cover vegetation species and semi aquatic species would be collected in various states of growth and health. These data will be analyzed to determine the wavelengths that provide the best indicators of growth in the presence of excess nutrients and water. Optical filters with these wavelengths will be used with existing airborne imaging systems to collect images over the known septic systems. These images will be processed and analyzed to determine if septic system drain fields can be identified and to determine the extent of the increase in vegetation growth in and around the drain fields and down to the adjacent water bodies.

A location with known septic system problems will be identified for study. A subset of that area will be chosen to minimize the quantity of data to be collected. Field collection and lab analysis of a variety of natural and cultivated species e.g. lawn grasses will be required. Several airborne data acquisition missions with concurrent ground data acquisition will also be required. It is expected that these acquisitions will be conducted during different growing seasons to identify the optimum conditions for detecting the malfunctioning septic systems. After, the data is collected, it will be analyzed to determine whether or not airborne remote sensing techniques can be effective in detecting and monitoring septic systems in the natural environments surrounding coastal water bodies.

The duration of the project is expected to cover one annual cycle of vegetation growth. Data acquisition and processing will be contracted to third parties.

4. Goals/Benefits (quantify where possible using measures of success list) Was a cost-benefit study conducted for this project? yes/no If yes, provide a summary of findings.

5. Partners (include each participant's responsibilities - funding, permitting, etc.)

6. Funding/Contributions (organization and amount)

Cash

Federal

Non Federal

State government
Local government
Private industry
Public interest groups

Total


In-Kind Services (hours, equipment, or other forms of assistance and estimated dollar value)

Volunteers (number of people and hours, and estimated dollar value)

7. Legislative authorities used by each participant

8. Value added by Coastal America Partnership including Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) goals achieved through this collaboration (500 words or less)

9. Project Status

• Initiation date:
• Completion date:
• Current stage: (Initiated - I, Underway - U or Completed - C)

10. Contacts

11. Any additional information/comments