Smart Groundwater Monitoring System for Managed Aquifer Recharge Based on Enabled Real-Time Internet of Things
- 1Department of Civil Engineering, International Islamic University, 44000 Islamabad, Pakistan (khanzaib.jadoon@iiu.edu.pk)
- 2State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
- 3Department of Electrical Engineering, International Islamic University, 44000 Islamabad, Pakistan
- 4Department of Mechanical Engineering, International Islamic University, 44000 Islamabad, Pakistan
Groundwater has provided a reliable source of high-quality water for human use. After India, USA and China, Pakistan is the fourth largest groundwater user in the world and around 60x109 m3 of groundwater is extracted annually. The situation in Pakistan has further exacerbated when government subsidized electricity for agricultural purposes – paving the way for installation of myriad tube wells across the country which resulted in excessive withdrawal of groundwater. The major challenges in sustainable groundwater management system are twofold. First, increasing withdrawals to meet growing human needs have led to significant groundwater depletion, which is usually not monitored due to high cost of monitoring system. Second, data limitations and the application of regional groundwater models for future prediction.
In this research, Internet of Things (IoT) enabled smart groundwater monitoring system has been developed and tested to monitor in-situ real-time dynamics of groundwater depletion. Each groundwater monitoring sensor is connected to an embedded module that consists of a microcontroller and a wireless transceiver based on Long Range Radio (LoRa) technology. The readings from each LoRa enabled module is aggregated at one (or more) gateways which is then connected to a central server typically through an IP connection. Sensors of the smart groundwater monitoring system were calibrated in the lab by fluctuation water levels in a 3-meter water column. A network of the low-cost groundwater sensors was installed in managed aquifer recharge wells to provide real-time assessment of groundwater level measurement remotely. The smart and resource efficient groundwater monitoring system help to reduce number of physical visits to the field and also enhance stakeholders participation to get social benefits (promote equity among groundwater users), economic benefit (optimize pumping, which reduces energy cost) and technical benefit (better estimates of groundwater abstraction) for sustainable groundwater management.
How to cite: Jadoon, K. Z., Ali, M. Z., Yousafzai, H. U. K., Rehman, K. U., Shah, J. A., and Shiekh, N. A.: Smart Groundwater Monitoring System for Managed Aquifer Recharge Based on Enabled Real-Time Internet of Things, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-12909, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-12909, 2023.
