Why do we need Kilroy?
Simply put, our oceans are in deep trouble. We have waters erupting in toxic blooms of algae, red tides bringing outbreaks of paralytic shellfish poisonings, and masses of fish washing up dead on shore. We have seals turning up with fungal infections, sea turtles covered in tumors, dolphins falling sick from mercury poisoning and we have lifeless waters called dead zones, spreading wider every year.

How does the ORCA Kilroy help?
Kilroy lets us monitor the physical, chemical and biological indicators of health in a particular body of water. More importantly, when we find signs of trouble, we can track them to their source, both in space and time. Until now, enforcement of pollution laws has been near impossible. We haven’t had the evidence to show who is polluting. It’s like expecting a cop to enforce the speed limit without a radar gun. Kilroy’s steady, reliable stream of affordable information promises to empower citizens, communities and their lawmakers alike to identify the source of water pollution and then work to stop it. View Technical Info

How does it do that?
Kilroy reads the water. Fluid though it appears, water ironically flows in packets—packets that can be identified by their temperature and salinity, their speed and direction—as well as you or I can read each other’s faces or hand-writing. Depending on simple quantities such as water depth, salinity, and temperature, these packets of water have a tendency to either pick-up, carry, or drop payloads of sediments, nutrients, and pollutants. These payloads tend to pool in certain places called sinks, as does that accidental flush of stormwater sewage, or that toxic spill of diesel fuel. And when they do, Kilroy is there.

Yet for every sink, there is, of course, a source. And once again, the ubiquitous Kilroy is there, connecting one to the other. Kilroy is designed to work in vast networks transmitting these vital signs over hundreds of miles of ocean. When bad things happen out there, Kilroy immediately tells us here, the ‘who-what-when-and-where’. And with that knowledge comes the ‘how,’ toward healing the wounds. View Technical Info