NASA is funding a new project with the University of Iowa and local city water facilities to predict nitrate concentrations in water.
The initiative will combine water quality measurements from monitors across the state with NASA satellite imagery of rainfall and land use.
UI engineering professor Jesus Gomez-Velez says his team will use artificial intelligence to turn historical data into a forecasting model.
“This is not just an academic exercise,” Gomez-Velez says. “In reality, what we are doing here is working together with the public water supply systems to see how those predictions can be used to make better decisions.”
He says accurate forecasts could help water treatment plants decide where to draw water from or how to treat it.
Gomez-Velez says his team will take the AI-generated data to create a nitrate prediction tool, which will be passed along to local water treatment facilities.
“That they will actually look at the forecasting and say, okay, we can use this forecasting to make a decision about maybe using these other sources of water or maybe do blending for a period of time,” he says.
NASA and the university are partnering with Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, as well as Des Moines Water Works. The tool will need at least two years of testing before it’s accurate.
(By Eliza Billingham, Iowa Public Radio)