This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is to develop an innovative, cost-effective, real time biosensor system that uses plants to monitor water and soil quality. Monitoring heavy metal contaminants in the environment, particularly in large or remote areas, is often cost-prohibitive due to the expense of the extensive sampling required to adequately assess heterogeneous distribution of the contaminants. The development of plant biosensors that indicate the presence of heavy metals could offer high spatial resolution, standoff reporting, ready scaling to large treatment areas, and continuous operation of an in-situ monitoring approach. The system could be used to detect and monitor metal concentrations in contaminated soil, water, or landfill leachate, before, during and after remedial activities, and used for risk assessment by monitoring the levels of bioavailable metals in the environment.