Mysterious objects appeared on Polish rivers. We know what they are for

Strange facilities were noticed on rivers and lakes from Masuria to Silesia. Many people wonder what unusual “buoys” are for. We divide myths.

Usually, objects floating on the surface of the water, which resemble rescue buoles, are aimed at determining safe zones in the area of the reservoir. This time, however, mysterious objects perform a much more important function than you could think at first.

What are mysterious objects on rivers and lakes?

Unusual objects that we can see for some time on rivers and lakes are the WaterStation Mini pilot program. This concept assumes the placement in the water of the autonomous station monitoring the quality of water, which looks like a cone placed in the lifeguard.

These devices using the Internet send the water on the state of water that is available at www.watermap.pl. This project was implemented in April, and currently autonomous stations can be seen in more and more places in Poland.

The solution is innovative in Poland and Europe. The water quality is examined by the Main Inspectorate for Environmental Protection, but these are laboratory tests of manually collected samples, usually carried out every six months – says Filip Budny, a representative of the Watersense project, who coordinates the work under the Watersense (ASIR) project implemented in the consortium also with the Warsaw University of Technology and IMGW.

What parameters do the Watersence station investigate?

Experts assume that if Watersance stations came into use faster, they would warn specialists against a significant salinity of the Odra in 2022, or a disaster associated with the golden algae bloom, which caused the dreams of over three million fish.

It turns out that costing 10,000 PLN The device can work on its own power for a year and inform the owners about:

water temperature at the surface,
water depths at the station,
salinity of water,
pH of water,
oxygenation of water,
ORP Redoks potential.

This station can successfully support cyanobacteria detection in the reservoirs, or determine the quality of water, detecting chemical impurities in tanks.