A sensor for detecting pollution at the beach

Researchers at UC Irvine are experimenting with a way to use sensors to rapidly detect when sewage or poison drifts into a beach area. Now, it takes days.

The technique involves mathematically manipulating data that comes in from the salinity and temperature sensors that are already installed at places such as Newport Beach. There appears to be correlation, once the calculations are complete, between specific changes in salinity and temperature and the influx of pollutants to the coastal environment.