In 2024, we made significant strides towards a future with affordable, continuous water quality monitoring devices all over the Chesapeake Bay through our Bay Observation Box (BOB) program!
BOB 3.0 was introduced in our annual report, but in case you missed it…Project leads Norm and Shelly O’Foran designed BOB 3.0 to bring filtered river water to the sensors to mitigate biofouling using a modified lake filter. With our previous design, the sensors would get covered in algae, barnacles, and other fouling organisms after about two weeks. When this happened, the pH, temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen readings would drift away from commercial equipment readings.
Thanks to a $10,000 grant from the Chesapeake Oyster Innovation Award, we will test BOB 3.0 in the field with the help of the James A Forrest Technology Center’s Natural Resource Management program students in 2025. These funds will also allow us to: further refine BOB 3.0 to mitigate biofouling, conduct side-by-side comparisons between BOB and commercial equipment, and collaborate with students, the aquaculturists, and the public.
Acknowledgment: This project was supported through the Chesapeake Oyster Innovation Program with funding provided by the Chesapeake Oyster Alliance and Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
