A platform and protocol to standardise the test and selection low-cost sensors for water level monitoring

Abstract

Water infrastructure in cities is complex and requires proactive management to optimise function. The scale and distribution of assets across municipalities requires affordable systems which can trigger alerts. Systems underpinned by low-cost sensors could meet increasing monitoring needs: more assets, more often, and at a better resolution. However, low-cost sensors require appropriate testing to assess their performance and optimise their use. Here, we focus on low-cost water level sensors, often considered as the main monitoring parameters for water-related infrastructures. We developed a platform and testing protocol to assess the suitability of low-cost sensors. We assessed the performance of three widely used low-cost sensors: laser-ranging, ultrasonic-ranging, and pressure. Our main results showed that the ultrasonic sensor offers the best price to accuracy ratio, and the pressure sensor provides the highest accuracy while still at a very low cost. Our platform and protocol provide a standardised testing and calibration method which can be applied to any sensor. The platform can be used to gather and share results, to enhance community knowledge and encourage the use of new (low-cost or not) sensors. The development of low-cost sensors is an important step toward the wider use monitoring systems for water infrastructure.

Asset management for blue-green infrastructures: a scoping review

“…BGI has developed as an idea over the last 20-40 years, driven by the need to respond to climate change impacts resulting in more urban flooding and drought issues. The components of BGI, as well as the ownership responsibilities, are often not well-structured and are characterized by low automation, proximity to nature, small spatial scale, and individuality (Cherqui et al 2019a(Cherqui et al , 2019b. Accordingly, competencies and resources for asset management are often not available in the classical sense.…”

“…It is, for example, not possible today to accurately predict the evolution of hydraulic parameters such as filter media permeability (Gonzalez-Merchan et al 2012). Limited resources do not allow for frequent or continuous monitoring of each BGI and utilities often choose to monitor the most important BGIs in size or regarding the consequence of a failure (Cherqui et al 2019a(Cherqui et al , 2019b. BGI asset management strategies must rely on the knowledge, experience, and practices developed for 'traditional' infrastructures.…”

Metrology in Urban Drainage and Stormwater Management: Plug and pray

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Measuring the water balance in stormwater control measures

“…the use of low-costs sensors, new data transmission technologies, the development of IoT (Internet of things), etc. (Cherqui et al, 2019).…”