Such robots could skim across lakes and other bodies of water to monitor water quality or act as tiny spies.

ENGADGET: Chinese microbot walks on water, skims the surface of insect-inspired design

Experts had testified that the federal utility failed to monitor and control water quality pressure in the dikes that constrained the material.

FORBES: Coal Ash Spilling Into Obama and Romney Race

Even as we continue to monitor air and water quality, we have asked and are asking BP to be transparent about the measurements that it is taking as it relates to air and water quality.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

The agency said it would continue to monitor the volume and water quality.

BBC: An archive picture of Wheal Jane

As a daughter of the Gulf Coast, I know that it is our job to ensure people that we will be eyes and ears working with the states who have valuable and vital resources to monitor air, water and land quality.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing on Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico

Other projects will include a network of sensors to monitor air quality, traffic flow, water supply and other parameters.

BBC: Intel to use London as a smart city lab

The realisation that the effects of land-use changes in the Thames catchment take more than 30 years to show themselves fully has profound implications for policies to monitor and manage the river's water quality.

BBC: Thames archive reveals long nitrate rise