THE US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY SEEKS PARTNERS TO COMMERCIALIZE AN AUTOMATED GROUND WATER MONITORING SYSTEM DESC: The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is actively seeking industrial partners or licensees for the commercialization and further development of a recently patented automatic ground-water monitoring technology. A USGS research team has developed a system and equipment that robotically/automatically pumps a ground-water monitoring well, measures the ground-water quality, and transmits results to a human supervisor using radio, cellular-phone modem or a satellite linkage. The automated system is designed to test well water quality using the same techniques that a human sampling crew would use. Because the technology places the robot at the site of a well cluster -- it can monitor water-level and water quality much more frequently than human sampling teams. The device is programmed to signal a human operator when measured conditions have changed sufficiently to indicate that local water quality has changed (or to indicate if the unit needs service). The USGS has tested six prototype systems, and sampled water during all four seasons, under different hydrological conditions, well designs and geochemical environments. In total the six units have operated reliably for over 1020 days to produce data that is consistently verifiable when checked against manual measurements. The USGS expects that this technology will be useful as an early warning system for the protection of public supply wells and for site monitoring at known or potential sources of contamination such as landfills or industrial sites. The technology is described in greater detail at the following website: http://ma.water.usgs.gov/automon. THIS IS NOT A PROCUREMENT NOTICE. Companies interested in working with the USGS or in discussing the technology further should contact Julia Giller, Technology Enterprise Office, US Geological Survey, 211 National Center, Reston, VA, 20192, phone (703) 648-4403; or fax (703) 648-4408. WEB: click here to obtain additional information on the, http://ma.water.usgs/automon. E-MAIL: click here to contact the Technology Enterprise Office, jgiller@usgs.gov. Posted 03/30/00 (W-SN439643).

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