International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056

Volume: 05 Issue: 03 | Mar-2018 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring System

Jyotirmaya Ijaradar1, Subhasish Chatterjee2

1UG Student, Dept. of ECE, Centurion University, Odisha, India

2UG Student, Dept. of CSE, IEI Bangalore, Karnataka, India
---------------------------------------------------------------------***---------------------------------------------------------------------
Abstract - The need for effective and efficient water is acidic or alkaline. Pure water has 7 pH value, less
monitoring, evaluation and control of water quality in than 7pH has acidic, more than 7pH has alkaline. The
residential area has become more demanding in this era of range of pH is 0-14pH. For drinking purpose it should be
urbanization, pollution and population growth. Ensuring 6.5-8.5pH. Turbidity measures the large number of
safe water supply of drinking water is big challenge for suspended particles in water that is invisible. Higher the
modern civilization. Traditional methods that rely on turbidity higher the risk of diarrhea, cholera. Lower the
collecting water samples, testing and analyses in water turbidity then the water is clean. Temperature sensor
laboratories are not only costly but also lack capability for measures how the water is, hot or cold. Here in this paper
real-time data capture, analyses and fast dissemination of we tried to find the problem and then make a solution for
information to relevant stakeholders for making timely and it.
informed decisions. In this paper, a real time water quality
monitoring system prototype developed for water quality 1.1 Problem Statement
monitoring in Residential home is presented. The
development was preceded by evaluation of prevailing Due to the fast growing urbanization supply of safe
environment including availability of cellular network drinking water is a challenge for the every city authority.
coverage at the site of operation. The system consists of a Water can be polluted any time. So the water we reserved
Raspberry Pi, Analog to Digital Converter, Water quality in the water tank at our roof top or basement in our
measurement sensors. It detects water temperature, society or apartment may not be safe. Still in India most of
dissolved oxygen, pH, and electrical conductivity in real-time the people use simple water purifier that is not enough to
and disseminates the information in graphical and tabular get surety of pure water. Sometimes the water has
formats to relevant stakeholders through a web-based dangerous particles or chemical mixed and general
portal and mobile phone platforms. The experimental purpose water purifier cannot purify that. And it’s
results show that the system has great prospect and can be impossible to check the quality of water manually in every
used to operate in real world environment for optimum time. So an automatic real-time monitoring system is
control and protection of water resources by providing key required to monitor the health of the water reserved in
actors with relevant and timely information to facilitate our water tank of the society or apartment. So it can warn
quick action taking. us automatically if there is any problem with the reserved
water. And we can check the quality of the water anytime
Keywords: Raspberry Pi, Real-Time, Water Quality, and from anywhere. By keeping this mind we designed
Cloud, Data Visualization, ADC, Cost Effective this system especially for residential areas.

1. INTRODUCTION 2. RELATED WORK

In the 21st century, there are lots of inventions, but at the Central Water Commission (CWC) monitors water quality,
same time were pollutions, global warming and so on are by collecting samples from representative locations within
being formed, because of this there is no safe drinking the processing & distribution system. These samples are
water for the world’s pollution. Nowadays, maintaining analyzed at the well-equipped laboratories. At these
pure supply of water to the people is getting more laboratories samples from raw water, filter water and
challenging day by day. In India mainly is big cities the treated water are taken for analysis. The estimation of
municipality corporation use lots of chemical to purify the water parameters like turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen, etc.
river water then supply that to the people. And we is done with the help of meters. So the disadvantages of
reserved that water without any test. And we also don’t this existing system are that; there is no continuous and
know the water is either safe for drinking or not. And now remote monitoring, human resource is required, less
a day’s water quality monitoring in real time faces reliable, no monitoring at the source of waters i.e. no on
challenges because of global warming limited water field monitoring and the frequency of testing is very low.
resources, growing population, etc. Hence there is need of Due to these disadvantages of the existing system it is
developing better methodologies to monitor the water required to develop a system that will allow real time and
quality parameters in real time. The water parameters pH continuous monitoring of water quality. Thus various
measures the concentration of hydrogen ions. It shows the advanced technologies for monitoring water quality have

© 2018, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 6.171 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 1166
 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 05 Issue: 03 | Mar-2018 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

been proposed in the recent years. In the structure of the 3.1 Block Diagram:
wireless sensor networking in which a number of sensor
nodes are located in a lake is proposed. A much smaller
number of UAVs also watch the lake and they are
controlled by the central monitoring station (CMS). The
sensor nodes and UAVs are both movable whereas the
CMS is fixed. The CMS collects the information from the
sensors and process them. In a framework for monitoring
water quality by incorporating bacterial contamination of
water for open water bodies using WSN (consisting of
sensors for sensing parameters of interest), UV Light to
probe the contamination of water and Fluorescence as a
monitoring tool is proposed. Presents a web based
wireless sensor network, for monitoring water pollution
by means of Zigbee and WiMax technologies. This system
would have a local Zigbee network that will be capable of
measuring various water quality parameters, a WiMax
network and web based monitoring with the help of a Fig - 1 : Block diagram of the proposed system
controlling computer. The system is intended to collect
and process information, thus making decisions in real 4. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTIONS
time via a remote web server. The data is directed through
the Zigbee gateway from sensor nodes to the web server A. RASPBERRY PI
by means of a WiMax network, thus permitting users to
distantly monitor the water quality from their place
The Raspberry Pi3 Model B is a wonderful platform that
instead of gathering data from the scene. Experimental
can be used to build automation systems. Clearly, the
results reveals that the system is capable of monitoring
Raspberry Pi3 model B board is perfect when being used
water pollution in real time.
as a “hub” for automation systems, connecting to other
open-source hardware parts like sensors. Raspberry Pi3
3. PROPOSED SYSTEM Model B is a small sized single board computer which is
capable of doing the entire job that an average desktop
Our goal is to develop a system for real time quality computer does like spreadsheets, word processing,
assessment for water health at residential places using Internet, Programming, Games etc. Raspberry Pi3 Model B
Raspberry Pi. pH, Turbidity and Temperature sensors are Built on the latest Broadcom 2837 ARMv8 64bit processor,
used to gather the parameters necessary to monitor water the new generation Raspberry Pi3 Model B is faster and
health in real time. Following are the objectives of the more powerful than its predecessors. With built-in
proposed system. wireless and Bluetooth connectivity, it becomes the ideal
IoT ready solution. It consists of 1.2GHz QUAD Core
● To measure various chemical and physical Broadcom BCM2837 64bit ARMv8 processor, BCM43438
properties of water like pH, temperature and Wi-Fi on board, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) on
particle density of water using sensors. board,1GB RAM,4x USB 2 ports,40pin extended
GPIO,HDMI and RCA video output. The Raspberry Pi3B
● Send the data collected to a Raspberry Pi, show model is shown in Fig - 1.
the data in display and send it to a cloud based
Database using Wired/Wireless Channel.

● Trigger alarm when any discrepancies are found

in the water quality.

● Data visualization and analysis using cloud based

visualization tools.

The detailed block diagram of the proposed design is given

in Diagram 1.

Fig - 2: Raspberry Pi 3 Model B

© 2018, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 6.171 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 1167
 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 05 Issue: 03 | Mar-2018 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

B. ADS1015 Analog to Digital Converter

For microcontrollers without an analog-to-digital

converter or when you want a higher-precision ADC, the
ADS1015 provides 12-bit precision at 3300
samples/second over I2C. The chip can be configured as 4
single-ended input channels, or two differential channels.
As a nice bonus, it even includes a programmable gain
amplifier, up to x16, to help boost up smaller
single/differential signals to the full range. We like this
ADC because it can run from 2V to 5V power/logic, can
measure a large range of signals and its super easy to use.
It is a great general purpose 12 bit converter.

Fig - 4: pH sensor

D. Turbidity Sensor:

Turbidity is defined as the reduction of transparency of a

liquid caused by the presence of undissolved suspended
matter. The origin of the particles found in seawater can
be mineral (such as clay and silts) or organic (such as
particulate organic matter or living organisms like
plankton). Turbidity is not, however, a direct measure of
suspended particles in water, but a measure of the
Fig - 3 : Adafruit ADS1015 ADC scattering effect such particles have on light. Turbidity
sensors measure the amount of light that is scattered by
C. PH Sensor: the suspended solids in water. As the amount of total
suspended solids (TSS) in water increases, the water’s
pH measurements are predominantly conducted with pH- turbidity level (and cloudiness or haziness) increases.
sensitive glass electrodes, which have, in general, proven Turbidity sensors are used in river and stream gaging,
satisfactory in measurements of pH. However, the wastewater and effluent measurements, control
behavior of pH-sensitive glass electrodes often falls short instrumentation for settling ponds, sediment transport
of what precision is required. Even with the most careful research, and laboratory measurements.
treatment, the potential of cells containing glass electrodes
often drifts slowly with time after such cells were placed
in a new solution. Drift of cell potentials is an especially
severe problem in investigations dependent on precise
observation of small pH differences. Measurements
involving cells with liquid junctions are subject to further
uncertainties due to the dependence of liquid junction
potentials upon medium concentration and composition
and due to pressure changes in the system.

Ideally, the change in liquid junction potential (residual

Fig - 5: Turbidity Sensor
liquid junction potential) between test solution and
standardizing buffer should be small or at least highly
reproducible. In practice, systematic errors between many E. Temperature Sensor (DS18B20) :
measurements suggest that the reproducibility of the
residual liquid junction potential is often poor and that The DS18B20 digital thermometer provides 9-bit to 12-bit
residual liquid junction potentials are dependent on the Celsius temperature measurements and has an alarm
construction and/or history of the liquid junctions used in function with nonvolatile user-programmable upper and
various investigations. Since pH fluctuations in marine lower trigger points. The DS18B20 communicates over a
waters are very small, an absolute accuracy of less than 1-Wire bus that by definition requires only one data line
0.1 pH units and a resolution of at least 0.01 pH units is (and ground) for communication with a central
required. For an assessment of the CO 2/CO3 systems even microprocessor. In addition, the DS18B20 can derive
a higher accuracy is necessary. power directly from the data line ("parasite power"),

© 2018, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 6.171 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 1168
 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 05 Issue: 03 | Mar-2018 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

eliminating the need for an external power supply. Each To use ThingSpeak, we need to sign up and create a
DS18B20 has a unique 64-bit serial code, which allows channel. Once we have a channel, we can send the data,
multiple DS18B20s to function on the same 1-Wire bus. allow ThingSpeak to process it and also retrieve the same.
Thus, it is simple to use one microprocessor to control Let us start exploring ThingSpeak by signing up and
many DS18B20s distributed over a large area. setting up a channel.
Applications that can benefit from this feature include
HVAC environmental controls, temperature monitoring 4.1 Water Quality Metrics
systems inside buildings, equipment, or machinery, and
process monitoring and control systems. The table below displays the metrics used by our system
to measure water quality.
Key Features:
Table -1: Threshold values for pH and turbidity
❏ Measures Temperatures from -55°C to +125°C (-
67°F to +257°F)
Safe water unsafe water
❏ ±0.5°C Accuracy from -10°C to +85°C
❏ Programmable Resolution from 9 Bits to 12 Bits
pH 6.5 - 8.5 <6.49 and >8.5
❏ No External Components Required
Turbidity <5 >5

Action Turn On Green Turn On Red

Led Led and Buzzer

Table - 2: Threshold values for temperature sensor

Normal Hot Cold

Temperature(T) 10<=T>=29 T>29 T<10

Action Green Led Red Led Blue Led

Fig - 6: DS18B20 Temperature Sensor 5. PROOF OF CONCEPT

We present a system design of model depicted in the
F. ThingSpeak : figures below. It show a pictorial description of the
implemented design. The design has been tested with
ThingSpeak is a platform providing various services different solvents to check the integrity of the system.
exclusively targeted for building IoT applications. It offers
the capabilities of real-time data collection, visualizing the
collected data in the form of charts, ability to create
plugins and apps for collaborating with web services,
social network and other APIs. We will consider each of
these features in detail below.

The core element of ThingSpeak is a ‘ThingSpeak Channel’.

A channel stores the data that we send to ThingSpeak and
comprises of the below elements:

● 8 fields for storing data of any type - These can be

used to store the data from a sensor or from an
embedded device.
Fig - 8: ADS1015 connected with sensors
● 3 location fields - Can be used to store the latitude,
longitude and the elevation. These are very useful
for tracking a moving device.

● 1 status field - A short message to describe the

data stored in the channel.

© 2018, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 6.171 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 1169
 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 05 Issue: 03 | Mar-2018 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

Fig - 9: Raspberry pi connected to sensors through GPIO

Extension board

Chart - 1: Real time visualization of temperature variation

in water sample

Fig - 10: Testing water quality in real time in normal

water

Chart - 2: Real time visualization of pH variation in water

sample

Fig-11: Testing water quality in real time by mixing

solvents in water.

Chart - 3: Real time visualization of turbidity variation in

Fig - 12: Collecting turbidity value from dirty water water sample

© 2018, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 6.171 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 1170
 International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 05 Issue: 03 | Mar-2018 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072

6. CONCLUSIONS [8] Gouthaman.J, Bharathwajan Prabhu. R &

Srikanth.A “Automated urban drinking water
Monitoring of real time quality of Water from reserve tank supply control and water theft identification
of house and colony makes use of PH, turbidity and system” Proceeding of the 2011 IEEE Students'
temperature sensor with Raspberry Pi and existing Cloud Technology Symposium, IIT Kharagpur pp.87-91,
system for data analytics. The system can monitor water 2011.
quality automatically, triggers alarms immediately to
prevent any health hazards and it is low in cost and does [9] S.Leirens, C. Zamora, R.R. Negenborn, and B. De
not require people on duty. So, the system is likely to be Schutter “Coordination in urban water supply
more economical, convenient and fast. The system has networks using distributed model predictive
good flexibility. Only by replacing the corresponding control” Proceedings of the 2010 American
sensors and changing the relevant software programs, this Control Conference, Baltimore, Maryland, pp.
system can be used to monitor other water quality 3957–3962, 2010.
parameters. The operation is simple. The system can be
expanded to monitor hydrologic, air pollution, industrial [10] Hen Hui, Zhou Wenchao and so on, “Design of the
and agricultural production and so on. It has widespread embedded remote meter reading system based on
application and extension value. Ethernet”, Electronic Design Engineering, vol. 20
pp. 184-186, 2012.
REFERENCES

[1] Sridharan, S. (2014) Water Quality Monitoring

System Using Wireless Sensor Network.
International Journal of Electronic
Communications Engineering Advanced
Research,3,399-402

[2] Losilla, F., Garcia-Sanchez, A.-J., Garcia-Sanchez, F.,

Garcia-Haro, J. and Haas, Z.J. (2011) A
Comprehensive Approach to WSN-Based ITS
Application. Sensors, 10, 10220-10265.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s111110220

[3] Mo Deqing, Zhao Ying, Chen Shangsong,

“Automatic Measurement and Reporting System
of Water Quality Based on GSM,” 2012
International Conference on Intelligent System
Design and Engineering Application.

[4] Nikhil Kedia, Water Quality Monitoring for Rural

Areas- A Sensor Cloud Based Economical Project,
in 1st International Conference on Next
Generation Computing Technologies (NGCT-
2015) Dehradun, India, 4-5 September 2015. 978-
1-4673-6809-4/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE

[5] Jayti Bhatt, Jignesh Patoliya, Iot Based Water

Quality Monitoring System, IRFIC, 21 feb, 2016.

[6] Michal lom, ondrej priby & miroslav svitek,

Internet 4.0 as a part of smart cities, 978-1-5090-
1116-2/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE

[7] Zhanwei Sun, Chi Harold Liu, Chatschik Bisdikia_,

Joel W. Branch and Bo Yang, 2012 9th Annual
IEEE Communications Society Conference on
Sensor, Mesh and Ad Hoc Communications and
Networks

© 2018, IRJET | Impact Factor value: 6.171 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal | Page 1171