Mid July, Observator delivered the first five of a total of 13 data buoys to the Dutch dredging and marine contractors Van Oord. These buoys will be used to monitor the water quality during a land reclamation project in Kuwait. The reclamation project was awarded to Van Oord by the Kuwait National Petroleum Company, as the first phase in the construction of a new refinery including a jetty, a barge dock and roads.

Van Oord already has considerable experience with the OMC-7006 data buoy from Observator, but decided that for this project a bigger buoy was required. They selected the 1.2 meter diameter OMC-7012 partly because Observator was able to customize this buoy to their requirements on very short notice. Within a few weeks the basic design was modified, approved and the first 5 buoys were delivered. The next 8 buoys will be delivered according to schedule early next month.

The OMC-7012 data buoys are equipped with solar panels, a data logger with GPRS modem, GPS, signal light and a radar reflector. They are equipped with EXO sondes from Xylem/YSI to measure water quality parameters. The measurements are transmitted by GPRS to a server, where the OMC-Data-Online software from Observator is used to display the results, create overview reports and generate alarm messages in case measured parameters exceed preset thresholds.