Open Sensing System for Long Term, Low Cost Water Quality Monitoring

Water is a major preoccupation for our generation since it is crucial in keeping a healthy ecosystem and supporting biodiversity. The state of aquatic systems and water bodies needs to be continuously monitored to make informed decisions and trigger sanitation when necessary. However, observing and tracking the evolution of many water bodies without disturbing and polluting the biotopes is expensive, not scalable, and thus, infeasible. This article presents a way to make sustainable measurements using a new low-cost, open-source, and autonomous monitoring system deployable in a broad network. The smart buoy is deployed and controlled by a central unit that uses lab-graded sensors to measure ambient factors. The custom electronic board offers sustainable electronics integration emphasizing power path and network connectivity. The smart buoy showed an average power consumption of 1.8 mA and a cost of 932 euros per device. Currently, five spots have been monitored, which allowed the understanding of why biological events, such as a massive fish death, occurred. The system is easily expandable and can be used in various applications to increase the knowledge of the underwater ecosystem.