Water Flow Driven Sensor Networks for Leakage and Contamination Monitoring in Distribution Pipelines

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In this article, we introduce the concept of Water Flow Driven Sensor Networks for leakage and contamination monitoring in urban water distribution systems. The unique aspect of our work is that the sensor network can be deployed in the underground water network with only access to connection points (through manholes) and driven only by water harvested energy without the need for AC power or frequent battery changes. Although water systems may be affected by a large variety of contaminants, only a few sensors can be practically deployed. Thus, many types of contaminants are sensed via “proxy sensing,” which may not be 100% reliable. The main problems addressed are (a) adaptation of the network to the available energy to maximize leak/contamination detection and (b) minimal artificial water circulation or leakage to improve detectability during periods of almost zero natural water flow. The article shows, through extensive simulations, that the proposed approach can drastically reduce the leakage/contamination reporting time (from 3.5h up to ∼6min), and the adaptation can reduce this circulation by ∼33% and yet enhance the collected/transmitted data by 30%.