Real-time consumer aware and alert system based on smart water tank

Abstract

As population is growing water scarcity is becoming a raising issue year after year. The reasons may vary but there are two main factors which could be considered as key reasons of water shortages. Fresh water sources in Saudi Arabia are very limited and water desalination plants can't cover the high demand. omeowners should pay higher attention to their faucet’s leakages, not only to reduce water wastage but leakages could also impact their own water expenses in addition to our environment and economy. This project presents two tiers (homeowner / national water company) water shortage solution, we can't control the sources in our technical field, but we can improve water distribution system and develop a water monitoring system for clients. Our prototype consists of two parts. A web site to display statistical information and illustrations of different types of estimates and calculations, for national water employees to make water distribution decision more efficient besides clients to monitor their consumption rate and notice alerts of any leakages. The second part of our project focuses on hardware which well be sensing the water level and consumption then send the readings to the server to be presented on the website. It has an ultrasonic sensor installed in water container to detect water level, also there are three faucets each one is connected to a flow meter sensor to detect amount of dispensed water. All sensors are connected to a microcontroller where we embedded functions contains algorithms to calculate consumption rate, leaks detection and tank level to be sent through the Ethernet shield to the website. Finally, our monitoring approach is inexpensive and will reduce shortages by guiding the water pumping only to most needed districts; also, it will take care of water wastage issue approximately around 40% water can be stored using this developed technology.