Utilizing satellite-based remote sensing data for water quality assessment of inland water bodies

Traditional water quality sampling is costly, time consuming and can only provide a point basic water quality condition. Modern spatial information technology such as remote sensing and GIS provide effective tools to acquire and model water quality periodically for large area. In earlier studies, satellite images from various sensors such as Landsat, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (NOAA AVHHR), Satellite Pour Observation de la Terre (SPOT), Tiungsat 1, IKONOS, QuickBird and airborne hyperspectral images have widely been used to generate water quality maps of coastal, rivers, lakes and reservoirs. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the potential use of satellite images to analyse water quality of inland water bodies or reservoir. This study utilise Landsat 7 Enhance Thematic MapperPlus (ETM+) images of two different dates to analyse and compare the Total Suspended Sediment (TSS) concentrations of six different reservoirs located within the Klang Valley Region and Negeri Sembilan. Existing models as introduced by i) Baban, and ii) Keiner and Yan were used to convert multispectral satellite images into water quality maps. The ERDAS Imagine and ArcView GIS software are used to generate the water quality maps from satellite images and manual water quality sampling respectively. Initial results from this study have indicated water quality of reservoirs under investigation can be categorized as Class II and Class III according to the guidelines established by the Department of Environment Malaysia. Land use development and heavy rainfall within the catchments have certainly contribute to the poor water quality of reservoirs