A wireless sensor network IoT platform for consumption and quality monitoring of drinking water

Abstract

Generally, municipal water supply companies use manual collection and laboratory analysis for water quality testing. However, these methods have limitations such as lack of real-time information, inability to sample the entire water supply, and high costs. Therefore, continuous, real-time water quality monitoring is crucial for public health protection and ensuring that the whole water supply network is monitored. This paper proposes an Internet of Things (IoT) platform for the measurement of consumption and the quality of drinking water in rural or semi-rural environments. Data collected through temperature, flow, potential of hydrogen (pH), turbidity, and Oxidation Reduction Potential (ORP) sensors is exchanged with a database through a long-range wireless communication protocol. Two mobile applications and one desktop application were also developed, with the purpose of being used by simple users, technicians, and network administrators respectively. The presented implementation process includes the design of the hardware surrounding the ESP32 microcontroller and its mounted peripherals, as well as the software run by the microcontroller and the mobile devices. A prototype system was built and tested under controlled conditions, successfully recognizing an increase in water turbidity and its unsuitability when contaminated with different agents. This method may prove to be a financially advantageous solution for rural, semi-rural, and even urban environments when used with groups of data collection nodes, helping significantly in the upkeep and surveillance of the water supply network.

Highlights

The IoT platform is equipped with sensors that measure water consumption as well as turbidity, temperature, and pH.

Tested under controlled conditions, detecting different signs of water contamination.

A low-cost option for continuous water monitoring, particularly in resource-limited environments.