A Low-Cost Water Depth and Electrical Conductivity Sensor for Detecting Inputs into Urban Stormwater Networks
High-resolution data collection of the urban stormwater network is crucial for future asset management and illicit discharge detection, but often too expensive as sensors and ongoing frequent maintenance works are not affordable. We developed an integrated water depth, electrical conductivity (EC),...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/9/3056 |
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| author | Baiqian Shi Stephen Catsamas Peter Kolotelo Miao Wang Anna Lintern Dusan Jovanovic Peter M. Bach Ana Deletic David T. McCarthy |
| author_facet | Baiqian Shi Stephen Catsamas Peter Kolotelo Miao Wang Anna Lintern Dusan Jovanovic Peter M. Bach Ana Deletic David T. McCarthy |
| author_sort | Baiqian Shi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | High-resolution data collection of the urban stormwater network is crucial for future asset management and illicit discharge detection, but often too expensive as sensors and ongoing frequent maintenance works are not affordable. We developed an integrated water depth, electrical conductivity (EC), and temperature sensor that is inexpensive (USD 25), low power, and easily implemented in urban drainage networks. Our low-cost sensor reliably measures the rate-of-change of water level without any re-calibration by comparing with industry-standard instruments such as HACH and HORIBA’s probes. To overcome the observed drift of level sensors, we developed an automated re-calibration approach, which significantly improved its accuracy. For applications like monitoring stormwater drains, such an approach will make higher-resolution sensing feasible from the budget control considerations, since the regular sensor re-calibration will no longer be required. For other applications like monitoring wetlands or wastewater networks, a manual re-calibration every two weeks is required to limit the sensor’s inaccuracies to ±10 mm. Apart from only being used as a calibrator for the level sensor, the conductivity sensor in this study adequately monitored EC between 0 and 10 mS/cm with a 17% relative uncertainty, which is sufficient for stormwater monitoring, especially for real-time detection of poor stormwater quality inputs. Overall, our proposed sensor can be rapidly and densely deployed in the urban drainage network for revolutionised high-density monitoring that cannot be achieved before with high-end loggers and sensors. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:54:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-165fe58abb1f4ae4862bf1b36aca3f61 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:54:43Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-165fe58abb1f4ae4862bf1b36aca3f612023-11-21T17:24:47ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202021-04-01219305610.3390/s21093056A Low-Cost Water Depth and Electrical Conductivity Sensor for Detecting Inputs into Urban Stormwater NetworksBaiqian Shi0Stephen Catsamas1Peter Kolotelo2Miao Wang3Anna Lintern4Dusan Jovanovic5Peter M. Bach6Ana Deletic7David T. McCarthy8BoSL Water Monitoring and Control, Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton 3800, AustraliaBoSL Water Monitoring and Control, Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton 3800, AustraliaBoSL Water Monitoring and Control, Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton 3800, AustraliaBoSL Water Monitoring and Control, Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton 3800, AustraliaBoSL Water Monitoring and Control, Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton 3800, AustraliaBoSL Water Monitoring and Control, Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton 3800, AustraliaSwiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science & Technology (Eawag), 8600 Dübendorf, SwitzerlandSchool of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane 4001, AustraliaBoSL Water Monitoring and Control, Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton 3800, AustraliaHigh-resolution data collection of the urban stormwater network is crucial for future asset management and illicit discharge detection, but often too expensive as sensors and ongoing frequent maintenance works are not affordable. We developed an integrated water depth, electrical conductivity (EC), and temperature sensor that is inexpensive (USD 25), low power, and easily implemented in urban drainage networks. Our low-cost sensor reliably measures the rate-of-change of water level without any re-calibration by comparing with industry-standard instruments such as HACH and HORIBA’s probes. To overcome the observed drift of level sensors, we developed an automated re-calibration approach, which significantly improved its accuracy. For applications like monitoring stormwater drains, such an approach will make higher-resolution sensing feasible from the budget control considerations, since the regular sensor re-calibration will no longer be required. For other applications like monitoring wetlands or wastewater networks, a manual re-calibration every two weeks is required to limit the sensor’s inaccuracies to ±10 mm. Apart from only being used as a calibrator for the level sensor, the conductivity sensor in this study adequately monitored EC between 0 and 10 mS/cm with a 17% relative uncertainty, which is sufficient for stormwater monitoring, especially for real-time detection of poor stormwater quality inputs. Overall, our proposed sensor can be rapidly and densely deployed in the urban drainage network for revolutionised high-density monitoring that cannot be achieved before with high-end loggers and sensors.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/9/3056water level measurementelectric conductivityreal-time environmental monitoringillegal discharge detectiondistributed sensinglow cost |
| spellingShingle | Baiqian Shi Stephen Catsamas Peter Kolotelo Miao Wang Anna Lintern Dusan Jovanovic Peter M. Bach Ana Deletic David T. McCarthy A Low-Cost Water Depth and Electrical Conductivity Sensor for Detecting Inputs into Urban Stormwater Networks Sensors water level measurement electric conductivity real-time environmental monitoring illegal discharge detection distributed sensing low cost |
| title | A Low-Cost Water Depth and Electrical Conductivity Sensor for Detecting Inputs into Urban Stormwater Networks |
| title_full | A Low-Cost Water Depth and Electrical Conductivity Sensor for Detecting Inputs into Urban Stormwater Networks |
| title_fullStr | A Low-Cost Water Depth and Electrical Conductivity Sensor for Detecting Inputs into Urban Stormwater Networks |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Low-Cost Water Depth and Electrical Conductivity Sensor for Detecting Inputs into Urban Stormwater Networks |
| title_short | A Low-Cost Water Depth and Electrical Conductivity Sensor for Detecting Inputs into Urban Stormwater Networks |
| title_sort | low cost water depth and electrical conductivity sensor for detecting inputs into urban stormwater networks |
| topic | water level measurement electric conductivity real-time environmental monitoring illegal discharge detection distributed sensing low cost |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/21/9/3056 |
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