The images will subsequently be analysed to see whether toxic algae coverage in the river can be accurately estimated.
Toxic algae, or cyanobacteria as they are scientifically known, has been linked with 11 dog deaths in the Hutt River since 2005 and approximately 100 around New Zealand.
Third-year students at Victoria University’s School of Engineering and Computer Science have pioneered the use of UAVs for monitoring pollution in New Zealand rivers, equipping the fixed-wing machines with cameras to take aerial photographs.
The Hutt Valley UAV research project will be conducted by a Victoria student as part of the University’s Summer Research Scholarships Programme which sees top performing students carrying out projects in the workplace that organisations don’t have the resources to do themselves.
One of the student’s supervisors, Professor Winston Seah from Victoria’s School of Engineering and Computer Science, says using a UAV has potential to provide more accurate and detailed estimates of toxic algae coverage.
“UAVs are well suited to these kind of surveys as they can cover large areas—up to 20 kilometres—and give a birds eye perspective with limited manpower required.”
This contrasts with the costly and laborious methods used in the past, of visiting multiple sites along the rivers on a weekly basis to carry out sampling.
A driving force behind the project and one of those providing technical advice is Mark Heath, a Victoria University PhD student who has been investigating toxic algal blooms in New Zealand rivers for the last six years.
“I knew that colleagues overseas had used UAVs to monitor algal blooms in lakes so when I heard about the work Victoria engineering students were doing in adapting them to monitor pollution in rivers, it seemed a natural fit.
“Research into what regulates the growth and production of toxic algae is still in its infancy although, unfortunately, it is showing up in rivers all around New Zealand.
“Everything we can do to find out more is going to help our research team come up with ways to minimise and mitigate the problem,” he says.