Water user Fab Labs: co-design of low-tech sensors for irrigated systems

Mediterranean agriculture is facing the challenge to produce sustainably with a water resource under pressure. As irrigated areas expand in response to increasing vulnerability to drought, it is essential to support water users towards better agricultural water management. We set up two Fab Labs on the shores of the Mediterranean (France and Tunisia) to bring together water users around a collective project: co-constructing innovations to address local water management issues. A range of low-tech, low-cost and open source IoT-based sensors emerged from this process. The technologies were tested with users during the 2022 irrigation season. The aim of this study is to provide feedback on this participatory method as a facilitator for creating and sharing innovation in rural territories and to discuss the opportunities, benefits and limitations related to the use of these new technologies. We believe that this work contributes to make the measurement of water flows - and thus their understanding and better management - more accessible to the agricultural sector.