Water quality and land use data might also be applied, for example, to determine where a new road could be placed so as to minimize ecological damage. Water resourses in the Cayambe-Coca Reserve. These reserves have been classified as global hotspots of biodiversity by international conservation groups. The wide range of elevation, humidity, and temperature allows an immense variety of plants and animals to flourish in these zones. The monitoring networks also provide information valuable in the development of rural drinking water supplies.
Accurate data are crucial in determining the best sources for water supplies.
Robillard was introduced to Ecuador as a Peace Corps volunteer working on a United Nations project to design and construct water supply systems for rural Andean communities. Since 1990, he has worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development and various international conservation groups including The Nature Conservancy, Care-Natural Resources, the World Wildlife Fund, and International Centers for Conservation Data on water resources protection programs in South America. Two agricultural engineering graduate students will spend time at the Tiputini Biodiversity Research Station in Ecuador this summer and fall and Ecuadorean scientists will come to Penn State. Agricultural engineering Ph.D. candidate Robert Strobl will help to establish a water quality monitoring network for Tiputini while developing methods applicable for both U.S. and Ecuadorean monitoring networks. A master's degree student will work on developing real-time sensors for biological oxygen demand and turbidity.