UUV with UV Light to Clean Water Supplies
By: Lance Winslow
As we watch the clean-up start to progress in New Orleans we are witnessing an unwatering event of biblical proportions. During the receding of the tide in the Soup Bowl and post Hurricane Katrina initial stages of rebuilding we are reminded of how dirty that water really is. As we watch the water being pumped back into Lake Pontchartrain, we can see the foul smelling, gross looking water pour out of the pipes.
Lake Pontchartrain has been very dirty in the past and just as it was fishable again, it is being polluted with debris, human waste and chemicals in from the New Orleans flood. There is not time to clean the water while it is still in the New Orleans Soup Bowl, it must be pumped out right away, yet in doing so we are contaminating the Lake.
It will takes years before it is all cleaned up again and all that pollution will find its way to the surface or the bottom of the lake. For those who feed on Creole Dishes or Cat Fish bottom feeders this is quite a problem for human health, not to mention the health of Lake Pontchartrain itself.
I therefore propose that we take some of the University Research, Unmanned Underwater Vehicles and mount on them UV lights and send them in over lapping grid patterns to clean the lake of harmful bacteria. I further propose that we fund these University Robotics programs with United States research grants and use the knowledge collected to better design ESRI Models for pollution remediation as well as develop net-centric grid strategies along with the United States Coast Guard to use in patrolling our ports and boarders. I further propose we use these models to help us understand the effects of our pollution in relations to dead zone of aquatic life off our coasts and figure out how much is from human pollution runoff, non-indigenous invasive species and how much is from over fishing.
We have an opportunity here to learn a lot and turn a near eco-disaster into massive positive data sets for studying our surroundings. Please think on this, lets not waste another opportunity like this. When Mother Nature gives you lemons, look her in the eye and offer her back some lemon aide. Lets turn the Hurricane Katrina disaster into a positive thing for our future living along side our environment. Think on this, it can be done and we should make it so.
Lance Winslow - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/