The use of an electronic nose to characterize emissions from a highly polluted river

The Riachuelo–Matanza basin area (2.240 km2) is located in Buenos Aires province, Argentina. This area is affected by intensive and extensive agricultural activities, and bears almost 3,000,000 inhabitants and more than 10,000 industries, that release their effluents to the main collector of the basin, the Riachuelo River. It is a highly polluted area and the quality of water, soil and air is severely impaired causing chronic health problems. As part of an interdisciplinary study undertaken by local institutions to reach an environmental quality diagnosis and analysis of the pollutants dynamics in the basin system we have measured, with an electronic nose, the air immediately above the water in several points at the Riachuelo River mouth where the painteresque La Boca district is located. Water quality parameters simultaneously collected at the same sites were analyzed and correlated with the electronic nose response. This study is only exploratory and focuses on the viability of using an electronic nose to locate conflictive emissions throughout a given zone.