Skip to main content

Boreal Community Media

Great Lakes water sensors to help quickly identify oil spills

Jun 20, 2022 10:20AM ● By Content Editor
Photo: Great Lakes water sensors to help quickly identify oil spills (UpNorthLive)

By 
Josh Kurman - Up North Live - June 16, 2022

After last week’s oil spill in the St. Mary’s River, Lake Superior State University will put numerous oil pollution monitors around the Great Lakes.

The sensors allow the school to quickly identify and react to spills.

(U.S. Coast Guard)

Staff with the university say they were planning on deploying the sensors sometime soon anyway, but the recent spill moved the timeline forward.

With a rapid response grant and help from an Ann Arbor based tech company, the school was able to send one out just days after the spill.

"This is just I think providing more attention to the issue and maybe a bit more urgency to make sure that we have a system in place that can help detect, respond and recover that oil in a much faster way,” said Ashley Moerke, director of the Center for Freshwater Research and Education.

Moerke says LSSU plans on putting more of the sensors in the Great Lakes and St. Mary’s River in the coming months.


To see the original report and read related stories, follow this link to the Up North Live News website.

Boreal Ship Spotter - larger view here