Automatic control to prevent coastal pollution due to wastewater plants using robotic technology

Pollution in coastal areas is very hazardous for the population. The problem is even higher when this pollution occurs in bathing areas such as beaches in populated areas. In this work, we present a new automatic control application for wastewater plants when pollution is caused by those plants because there is an excess of water to be treated and it is thrown to the sea with high levels of biological pollutants (bacteria...). Those problems can be aggravated if climatic conditions pull to the coastal area the untreated water without the cleaning action of sea water. The experimentation is done with real data and real conditions in Barcelona area, at Mediterranean Sea, with the urban wastewater plant of Besòs. The water samples are caught by means of unmanned aerial vehicles without human intervention.