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Measuring surface water quality using a low-cost sensor kitwithin the context of rural Africa
Allard OelenVrije Universiteit Amsterdam
2CoolMonkeys BVNetherlands
aboelenvunl
Chris van Aart2CoolMonkeys BV
Netherlandschrisvanaart2coolmonkeysnl
Victor de BoerVrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Netherlandsvdeboervunl
ABSTRACTMonitoring water quality is done for a variety of reasons includingto determine whether water is suitable for drinking or agriculturalpurposes In rural areas of Africa the traditional way of measuringwater quality can be costly and time consuming In this researchwe have developed a low-cost water quality measuring device thatdesigned to operate in the context of rural Africa Firstly we selectappropriate water quality sensors Secondly we developed a waterquality monitoring device that takes the contextual requirementsand constraints of rural Africa into account Lastly the device isevaluated and tested using water samples that were collected inrural Africa
KEYWORDSICT4D water quality monitoring low-cost sensor kit IoT4D
1 INTRODUCTIONMeasuring surface water quality has been done for decades for avariety of reasons Among those reasons are to find out whetherwater is drinkable or if it can be used for agricultural purposes [2]Traditional methods to determine water quality can be time con-suming and expensive [9] Water samples are sent to a laboratoryand those samples are analyzed there Using this method of wateranalysis it is not possible to determine water quality ad hoc Forexample in the context of rural Africa a farmer wants to know ifthe water from the river can be used to water his or her crops If thefarmer has to wait a few weeks to find out whether the water at thatmoment is suitable for watering crops the results are not relevantanymore when they arrive The water composition could have beenchanged since the samples were taken A more suitable method ofdetermining the water quality would be a solution that providesinformation about the water quality instantly This device shouldbe affordable from a financial perspective Using such a device hasmultiple advantages over traditional water quality measuring ap-proach water quality can be measured instantly measurements canbe taken continuously and measuring can be done by stakeholdersitself instead of being dependent on a laboratory A disadvantageof using a low-cost sensor kit is that fewer water parameters canbe measured and these measures are potentially less accurate
In this research we will develop a low-cost water quality measur-ing device This device (or sensor kit) is designed to function withinthe context of rural Africa This means that there will be variousrequirements and constraints that are related to this context To beable to develop the water quality measuring device the followingresearch questions will be answered
1What is an effective design of a low-cost water quality measuringkit within the context of rural Africa11What are the requirements and constraints of the system designwith respect to the context of rural Africa12 What are appropriate sensors to measure water quality for themeasuring kit
The meaning of the word effective in the first research question isexplained in more detail in the two subquestions For the purposeof our research we define effectiveness as how well the systemconforms to the requirements and constraints For example if thereis no internet connection available alternative methods for connec-tivity should be included in the system design Additionally thereis a trade-off between the building costs and measuring qualityThis also involves the selection of appropriate sensors Sensors areconsidered appropriate for this context if they are low-cost andstill provide correct information about water quality parameters
2 RELATED LITERATURE21 ICT4D contextIn this research we focus on implementing an ICT solution withinrural Africa This results in multiple requirements and constraintsthat are specifically related to this context ICT research for devel-opment is called Information and Communication Technologies ForDevelopment (ICT4D or ICTD) More specifically ICT4D is definedby Gyan as the use of ICT in socio-economic and internationaldevelopment This includes disadvantaged population all over theworld but more often ICT4D is related to developing countries[5] Ali et al mentions three benchmarks that are important forsuccessful ICT4D projects context community participation andsustainability However sustainability seems to be conflicting withICT in general which is changing often Therefore Ali et al quali-fies sustainability of ICT4D projects as an unrealistic concept andthat pursuing sustainability leads to project failures [1]
Implementing an ICT system within developing countries raisesmultiple challenges that are not obvious or present in first-worldcountries Users of ICT systems often have limited education areunderemployed and have low incomes [12] On the other handstakeholders of such systems are from different countries and havedifferent sociocultural backgrounds [13] which can complicatedetermining the goals of a project Pitula et al described otherchallenges of the complicated context in which ICT4D projectsoperate related to infrastructures power supplies connectivity andextreme operating conditions Additionally three main componentsof ICT4D projects are described 1) infrastructure development2) create ICT capacity and 3) providing the digital service The
first component relates to the required infrastructure to operatethe system The second component relates to the capacity to useand maintain the system Finally the third component relates tothe value of the service itself [13] Because network connectionare extremely unreliable or not available at all in rural areas ofdeveloping countries other techniques are used to make the webaccessible Research of Valkering et al focuses on transmitting datavia SMS in rural areas [19] Most of the challenges listed aboveare also relevant for our research Solutions to overcome powerand connectivity issues should be investigated in order to design ausable water quality measuring device for rural Africa
According to Tongia et al many ICT4D project fail either par-tially or completely This is caused by a incomplete problem defi-nition or by the metrics used for evaluation [17] Other researchconfirms that most ICT systems for development do indeed fail[6 13] Among the reasons for failure is a gap between the designof the system and the reality The findings of the previously men-tioned researches are relevant for our research It indicates that theICT4D context should be taken into account in both the systemdesign phase and other phases (like the evaluation phase) in orderto succeed in this context
22 Water quality measurementWater quality can be determined using the physical chemical andbiological properties of water [18] The Environmental ProtectionAgency of Ireland described 101 parameters to determine waterquality Below a selection of those parameters are listed and cate-gorized by the previously mentioned quality property categoriesFirstly physical parameters include for example pH and tempera-ture Secondly chemical parameters include dissolved oxygen andother measures of how much of a certain substance is present inwater Lastly biological properties include measures of bacteria andviruses (eg salmonella) [16] The listed properties are relevant forthis research because they can be measured using low-cost sensorsA study of Rao et al describes a low-costs water monitoring sys-tem that is measuring some of the parameters that were describedearlier This includes temperature pH electrical conductivity anddissolved oxygen [14] The findings of Rao et al are relevant for thisresearch since they also involve building a low-cost water qualitymeasuring system
For amateur aquaponics and gardening water qualitymonitoringoften happens using low-cost sensor kits 1 2 These sensor are oftencontrolled by Arduino prototyping boards Due to the open-sourcenature of these projects multiple tutorials are published online bythe Arduino community These amateur projects can be interestingto our research since the same goal is pursued measuring waterquality with cheap sensors Although the goal is the same theenvironment in which the device operates is different
A Dutch NGO called AKVO is focusing on measuring water qual-ity in a cost effective way using smartphones 3 They use multiplemethods in order to determine the quality for example test stripsare used to measure certain parameters The smartphone camera isthen used to photograph the test strip in order to capture and store1httpskijanigrowscom2httpswwwcooking-hackscomdocumentationtutorialsopen-aquarium-aquaponics-fish-tank-monitoring-arduino3httpsakvoorgproductsakvo-caddisfly
the measuring results AKVO has developed a lens for a smartphonecamera as well With this lens it is possible to determine certainwater quality parameters [10] Using a smartphone the prices ofsensors kits can decrease significantly However there are multipledownsides of method The most obvious downside is that a smart-phone is needed (which is not always available especially in ruralareas of Africa) Additionally this method is not very suitable formonitoring water quality over a longer period of time (water qual-ity cannot be measured autonomously) Our research differs fromthe previously discussed projects since we focus specifically on theuse in rural Africa The measuring kit will not be dependent on asmartphone and is therefore suitable for autonomous continuouswater quality monitoring
3 METHODOLOGY31 Water quality parameter selectionIn order to design the water quality measuring kit water qualityparameters are selected together with the appropriate sensors tomeasure these parameters The parameters are selected based ontheir relevance in rural Africa This means that parameters that arehard to measure (because of a high sensor price or a complicatedprocedure) are not included in this research The parameters do pro-vide information about the quality of surface water The selectionof the parameters has been done using a literature review The finalresult of selecting water quality parameters is a table that containsinformation about each individual parameter
32 Measuring kit design and developmentBased on the table of water quality parameters the appropriatesensors have been selected The measurement device is using anArduino micro controller unit (MCU) to control the sensors Wehave chosen for Arduino because it is an inexpensive and open-source IO board that is often used for prototyping [3] Additionallythe availability of analog IO pins is convenient for reading analogvalues from various (water) sensors
The development of the kit includes research into the most ap-propriate power source housing and communication method withrespect to the context of rural Africa As has been described inthe related literature section multiple challenging factors shouldbe taken into account during the system development To be ableto find out how these constraints affect the design of the kit theconstraints are listed together with possible design options A listof design options is shown below This list is based on challengesfound by Pitula et al [13]
bull Power supply power net battery solar panels smartphonebattery
bull Connectivity using smartphone app GPRS LoRa SMSsave on SD card
bull Communication using smartphone app LCD screen webinterface
bull Operating conditions waterproof housing industrial sen-sor lab sensors
In the following sections two different types of usage scenariosare being described The system requirements and constraints aredetermined based on these scenarios
2
321 Water quality measurement on demand The water qual-ity kit is designed to be used on demand This means that whensomeone wants to know certain water quality parameters he orshe takes a sample of the water and puts in inside a cup Afterwardsthe sensors of the measuring kit are also placed in the cup to mea-sure the water quality Using the measuring kit using this methodhas implications for the system design Firstly powering the kitbecomes less of an issue since the kit could be powered by the user(eg via a smartphone or a power bank) Secondly connectivityand communication can also be handled via the smartphone Lastlymore (expensive) sensors could be connected to the kit becauseit will not be left unattended In contrast to the continuous mea-suring scenario (that will be discussed in the next section) fewersensors kits have to be created to be effective and that is anotherreason why sensor pricing is less of an issue A disadvantage of thismethod is that most water quality parameters are only relevant ifmeasured for a longer period of time (like temperature dissolvedoxygen and oxidation reduction potential) This means that theirvalue itself (without the ability to measure changes) is not veryhelpful in determining water quality A continuous water qualitymeasuring approach would overcome this problem
322 Continuous autonomous water quality measurement Incontrast to measuring on demand it is possible to do continuesmeasurements Multiple sensor kits will be placed at different lo-cations and they will constantly collect information about waterquality This is done using an Internet of Things (IoT) approachwhich will connect the sensors to the internet This has implicationson the system design including questions regarding how to powerthe system how to communicate the data to the stakeholders andhow to handle connectivity Possible answers to these questionsare using solar power communicate data via a web Graphical UserInterface (GUI) connectivity via GPRS Additionally the pricing ofthe sensor kit becomes more important since the kits can be stolenor damaged and because multiple sensor kits have to be created
33 Testing and evaluationThe device is built in multiple iterations The first prototype hasbeen shipped to rural Africa The testing phase is focusing on mul-tiple factors Firstly the sensors are tested to find out whether theyprovide accurate information about water quality This testing isdone using water samples collected from Ghana and Burkina FasoTesting in a real life setting is done in The Netherlands The sensorkit is placed at several rivers lakes and canals This is done both fortesting the sensors and to test and evaluate overall system design
In the end the evaluation of the system focuses on answering theresearch questions that were stated in section one This includesan answer to the first research question What is an effective designof a low-cost water quality measuring kit within the context of ruralAfrica An answer is provided by the description of an effectivedesign This is done by evaluating the requirements and by testingdifferent design option available to fulfill these requirements Aneffective system should be able to correctly measure water qual-ity parameters and make some conclusion about the actual waterquality In the evaluation the trade-off between building costs andmeasuring quality is explained An optimal solution is determined
for a system that is low-cost but still provides relevant informationabout water quality Depending on the usage scenario of the systemsome design options could be in favor of others The evaluationprovides a clear overview of what design decisions were taken dur-ing the development of the kit and what other design options areavailable Since this research is still work in progress the designdecisions are not extensively discussed in the results This will bedone at a later stage of the research
4 RESULTS41 Water quality parametersIn Appendix A a table can be found with a list of six water qualityparameters that are useful for this research In this table the pa-rameters are listed together with a description and a standard fordrinking water These standards come from both the United StatesEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Or-ganization (WHO) Some of the parameters provide clear safetyrange for drinking water For example water with a pH below 65should not be drunk But a parameter like temperature does byitself not provide information about whether the water is drinkableor not A bottle of water that has been heated by the sun can still beperfectly drinkable However when measured for a longer periodof time monitoring the water temperature can provide helpful in-sights into the water quality The final parameter list is composedbased on existing literature of research concerning water qualitymeasurement [8 14 15 18 20] According to Tuna et al the fol-lowing parameters are main parameters to measure water qualityelectrical conductivity dissolved oxygen nitrate pH temperatureturbidity
42 Development of the device421 First iteration The water quality kit of the first iteration
has been shipped to Mali for testing in the field This prototypecontained the following sensors temperature turbidity pH andTDS In Table 1 a more detailed overview of the specific sensorsand hardware of this device is listed The housing of the device hasbeen printed using a Ultimaker 3D printer The total price of thekit is around 200USD The price can be reduced by replacing thesolar power bank by a self built solar charging system (which hasbeen done in iteration two)
Table 1 Hardware specification of first iteration device
Type Description CostsHaoshi H-101 Industrial pH sensor $5695
Linkit One Development board for sensor con-trol
$5900
DFRobotanalog TDSsensor
TDS sensor $1290
DS18B20 Temperature sensor $690TSD-10 Turbidity sensor $990Xtorm Magma 3000 mAh solar power bank $5000
The device can operate both as water quality tool on demandor as continuous autonomous water quality monitoring tool (the
3
two use cases described in section 32) For the first use case a LCDscreen on the device displays water quality parameters in real timeFor the second use case the data is sent to a server The sensorswere controlled with a Linkit One4 This device runs the same codeas Arduino but has multiple connectivity options built in Amongother things GPRS and GPS are included GPRS is used to send thesensors data time and location to a server GPS is used to determinethe current location of the device The device operates as follows
(1) Set up device (connect sensors turn on solar panel)(2) Put the sensors in the water(3) Water quality parameters appear on LCD screen LCD back-
ground is green if the parameters are in a safe range thebackground becomes red if values are outside the safe range
(4) Water quality parameters and location are sent to the server
Figure 1 Block diagram of first iteration device
422 Second iteration The second iteration of the device iscurrently being constructed This iteration focuses on adding moresensors and on improving the construction of the device itselfAmong the new sensors is an ORP sensor When the first iterationdevice was shipped to rural Africa some internal wires came looseThe second generation device will therefore be more robust toprevent this from happening In this second iteration two separatedevices will be constructed This is done in order to fulfill therequirements that are specific for the two use cases described insection 32 One device will be used to measure water quality ondemand (an LCD screenwill be used to communicate the sensor datato the user) The other device is made for continues water qualitymeasurement this means that the device has to be waterproof andit should work autonomously No LCD screen will be connected tothis device sensor data is sent directly to the cloud Figure 2 depictsa prototype of the device
43 Online interfaceThe online interface displays the data that the device has sent toserver Using the time range selector it is possible to monitor andcompare water quality parameters over time The map shows thelocation of where the device was used to measure water qualityThe source code of the program can be found online5 Figure 3shows a screenshot of how the interface looks like
4httpwikiseeedstudiocomLinkIt_ONE5httpsgithubcomaoelencompteur-deau
Figure 2 Prototype of autonomous second iteration device
44 Water quality dataThe first iteration device did collect data from awell in Burkina FasoThe second iteration device has not been shipped to rural Africabut has been tested in The Netherlands This device is used to deter-mine the quality of water samples that were collected at multiplelocations in rural Africa The collected data is publicly available via[11] For the first iteration device that was tested in Burkina Fasoall measured values were within the safety range However somewater samples that were tested using the second iteration devicedid have a pH value that was below the EPA guideline (below pH65)
Figure 3 Online interface screenshot
4
5 DISCUSSIONThis research is still work in progress We expect to add more sen-sors in a later stage Some hardware changes will be made to makethe device more robust and to make it better suitable for moni-toring over a longer period of time Additionally a more detailedevaluation of the design decisions will be added
51 Device usageThe first prototype has been shipped a rural Africa The devicewas used by a researcher to measure the water quality at a certainlocation After the researcher left the device was given as a presentto the locals The device could have been used by them to testthe quality of different water sources However we did not receiveany data from the device which is an indication that the deviceis not used anymore Therefore one can question whether thewater quality on demand use case is a realistic scenario In theend such a device can never give a definitive result about whetherthe water is drinkable or not This means that using the device ondemand is less interesting to locals The device is still useful formonitoring water quality over a longer period of time The devicein this scenario works autonomously and therefore the previouslydescribed difficulty does not apply
52 SustainabilityAs has been described in the related literature section sustainabilityof ICT4D projects is often used as benchmark to measure projectsuccess A full sustainability study is out of scope for this researchhowever since sustainability is a crucial success factor of ICT4Dprojects we will discuss some aspects of this subject Both the hard-ware and software of the device are open-source Open-source forICT4D projects has multiple advantages With the respect to thehardware the advantage is that parts can be replaced with other(similar) hardware without the help of the product developers Thisis useful in multiple situations eg if certain components break or ifsomeone wants to extent the system For some sensors a BNC con-nector has been used This means that when a sensor probe stopsworking it is possible to replace this probe by a sensor with thesame BNC connection Since this connection is a common standardno internal parts need to be replaced Additionally the open-sourcesoftware also ensures that the system can be expanded or adjustedby any stakeholder In the end by using and providing open-sourcehardware and software we ensure that the original device develop-ers do not have an crucial role for system operation This benefitsthe overall sustainability of the water quality measuring device
53 Future workOnly the first iteration device has been shipped to rural Africa Inorder to ensure that the device is useful and capable for long-termoperation more devices should be tested in rural areas Futureresearch could focus on the actual deployment of the water qualitymeasuring device The feedback from stakeholders and the collectedsensor data from the device can be used to evaluate the device andto improve the overall system design
In this research we focused on using low-cost sensors tomeasureand monitor parameters specific to water quality Low-cost sensorkits can be useful for other applications in the ICT4D context as
well For example it is possible to develop low-cost weather stationsusing a similar setup as presented in this research The sensorswould be different but many of the requirements and design optionsare the same Another interesting research topic would be reusingold computer hardware For example computers have multiplesensors for measuring temperature research could focus on howto reuse such sensors in similar projects
REFERENCES[1] Maryam Ali and Savita Bailur 2007 The Challenge of Sustainability in ICT4D
- Is Bricolage the Answer Proceedings of the 9th International Conference onSocial Implications of Computers in Developing Coutries 29 May (2007) 54ndash60
[2] S R Carpenter N F Caraco D L Correll R WHowarth A N Sharpley andV H Smith 1998 Nonpoint pollution of surface waters with phosphorus andnitrogen Ecological Applications 8 1998 (1998) 559ndash568 httpsdoiorg1018901051-0761(1998)008[0559NPOSWW]20CO2
[3] Alessandro DrsquoAusilio 2012 Arduino A low-cost multipurpose lab equip-ment Behavior Research Methods 44 2 (2012) 305ndash313 httpsdoiorg103758s13428-011-0163-z
[4] H G Gorchev and G Ozolins 2011 WHO guidelines for drinking-water qualityWHO chronicle 38 3 (2011) 104ndash108 httpsdoiorg101016S1462-0758(00)00006-6
[5] Nana Baah Gyan 2016 The Web Speech Technologies and Rural Developmentin West Africa (2016)
[6] Richard Heeks 2002 Failure Success and Improvisation of Information SystemsProjects in Developing Countries Development 32 University of Manchester(2002) 45 httpsdoiorg1010160736-5853(84)90003-0
[7] Cn James Rc Copeland and Da Lytle 2004 Relationships between oxidation-reduction potential oxidant and pH in drinking water Proceedings of the AWWAWater Quality Technology Conference (2004) 1ndash13 httpscfpubepagovsisi_public_file_downloadcfmp_download_id=460980
[8] Peng Jiang Hongbo Xia Zhiye He and Zheming Wang 2009 Design of a waterenvironment monitoring system based on wireless sensor networks Sensors 9 8(2009) 6411ndash6434 httpsdoiorg103390s90806411
[9] James W Kirchner Xiahong Feng Colin Neal and Alice J Robson 2004 The finestructure of water-quality dynamics The (high-frequency) wave of the futureHydrological Processes 18 7 (2004) 1353ndash1359 httpsdoiorg101002hyp5537
[10] Saurabh Levin Sunderrajan Krishnan Samuel Rajkumar Nischal Halery andPradeep Balkunde 2016 Monitoring of fluoride in water samples using asmartphone Science of the Total Environment 551-552 (2016) 101ndash107 httpsdoiorg101016jscitotenv201601156
[11] Allard Oelen 2018 ICT4D Water quality measurement device - Data httpsdoiorg106084m9figshare6142811v1
[12] TS Parikh and DE Lazowska 2006 Designing an Architecture for DeliveringMobile Information Services to the Rural Developing World Proceedings ofthe 15th international Conference on World Wide Web (2006) 791ndash800 httpsdoiorg101109WMCSA20067
[13] Kristina Pitula and Deborah Dysart-Gale 2010 Expanding the Boundaries of HCI A Case Study in Requirements Engineering for ICT4D Information Technologiesamp International development 6 1 (2010) 78ndash93 httpitidjournalorgitidarticleview491216
[14] AS Rao S Marshall J Gubbi M Palaniswami R Sinnott and V Pettigrovet 2013Design of low-cost autonomous water quality monitoring system Proceedings ofthe 2013 International Conference on Advances in Computing Communications andInformatics ICACCI 2013 (2013) httpsdoiorg101109ICACCI20136637139
[15] Zulhani Rasin and Mohd Rizal Abdullah 2009 Water Quality Monitoring SystemUsing Zigbee BasedWireless Sensor Network International Journal of Engineeringamp Technology 9 10 (2009) 14ndash18
[16] The Environmental and Protection Agency 2001 Parameters of water qualityEnvironmental Protection (2001) 133 httpsdoiorg101017CBO9781107415324004
[17] Rahul Tongia and Eswaran Subrahmanian 2006 Information and Commu-nications Technology for Development (ICT4D) A Design Challenge 2006International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies andDevelopment 202 (2006) 243ndash255 httpsdoiorg101109ICTD2006301862
[18] Gurkan Tuna Orhan Arkoc and Kayhan Gulez 2013 Continuous monitoring ofwater quality using portable and low-cost approaches International Journal ofDistributed Sensor Networks 2013 (2013) httpsdoiorg1011552013249598
[19] Onno Valkering 2016 Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management10024 (2016) 697ndash712 httpsdoiorg101007978-3-319-49004-5
[20] N Vijayakumar and R Ramya 2015 The real time monitoring of water quality inIoT environment 2015 International Conference on Circuits Power and ComputingTechnologies [ICCPCT-2015] (2015) 1ndash4 httpsdoiorg101109ICCPCT20157159459
5
A LIST OF WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS
Parameter DescriptionDrinking water stan-dard Reference
Total Dissolved Solids(TDS)
Parameter to measure the total amountof dissolved solids A higher TDS mightbe an indication of pollution in the wa-ter
lt600 mgl WHO [4]
Dissolved oxygen (DO)
The amount of oxygen that is dissolvedin thewater Low levels of dissolved oxy-gen can be due to high water tempera-tures or can be indicative for bacteria inthe water
No guideline EPA6
Oxidation ReductionPotential (ORP)
The ability of water to either accept orrelease electrons Bacteria are killed byincreasing the ORP level
No guideline NSW7 EPA[7]
pH
Measure to determine whether the wa-ter is acidic (pH lt7) or basic (pH gt7)Water with a low pH contains elevatedamounts of toxic metals
65ltpHlt85 EPA8
TemperatureHigh water temperatures can cause thegrowth of microorganisms and can ef-fect the taste and smell of the water
No guideline WHO [4]
Turbidity
Measures suspended particles in the wa-ter The more particles the more changeof microorganisms in the water (whichcan be attached to the particles)
lt5 NTU WHO [4]
6
first component relates to the required infrastructure to operatethe system The second component relates to the capacity to useand maintain the system Finally the third component relates tothe value of the service itself [13] Because network connectionare extremely unreliable or not available at all in rural areas ofdeveloping countries other techniques are used to make the webaccessible Research of Valkering et al focuses on transmitting datavia SMS in rural areas [19] Most of the challenges listed aboveare also relevant for our research Solutions to overcome powerand connectivity issues should be investigated in order to design ausable water quality measuring device for rural Africa
According to Tongia et al many ICT4D project fail either par-tially or completely This is caused by a incomplete problem defi-nition or by the metrics used for evaluation [17] Other researchconfirms that most ICT systems for development do indeed fail[6 13] Among the reasons for failure is a gap between the designof the system and the reality The findings of the previously men-tioned researches are relevant for our research It indicates that theICT4D context should be taken into account in both the systemdesign phase and other phases (like the evaluation phase) in orderto succeed in this context
22 Water quality measurementWater quality can be determined using the physical chemical andbiological properties of water [18] The Environmental ProtectionAgency of Ireland described 101 parameters to determine waterquality Below a selection of those parameters are listed and cate-gorized by the previously mentioned quality property categoriesFirstly physical parameters include for example pH and tempera-ture Secondly chemical parameters include dissolved oxygen andother measures of how much of a certain substance is present inwater Lastly biological properties include measures of bacteria andviruses (eg salmonella) [16] The listed properties are relevant forthis research because they can be measured using low-cost sensorsA study of Rao et al describes a low-costs water monitoring sys-tem that is measuring some of the parameters that were describedearlier This includes temperature pH electrical conductivity anddissolved oxygen [14] The findings of Rao et al are relevant for thisresearch since they also involve building a low-cost water qualitymeasuring system
For amateur aquaponics and gardening water qualitymonitoringoften happens using low-cost sensor kits 1 2 These sensor are oftencontrolled by Arduino prototyping boards Due to the open-sourcenature of these projects multiple tutorials are published online bythe Arduino community These amateur projects can be interestingto our research since the same goal is pursued measuring waterquality with cheap sensors Although the goal is the same theenvironment in which the device operates is different
A Dutch NGO called AKVO is focusing on measuring water qual-ity in a cost effective way using smartphones 3 They use multiplemethods in order to determine the quality for example test stripsare used to measure certain parameters The smartphone camera isthen used to photograph the test strip in order to capture and store1httpskijanigrowscom2httpswwwcooking-hackscomdocumentationtutorialsopen-aquarium-aquaponics-fish-tank-monitoring-arduino3httpsakvoorgproductsakvo-caddisfly
the measuring results AKVO has developed a lens for a smartphonecamera as well With this lens it is possible to determine certainwater quality parameters [10] Using a smartphone the prices ofsensors kits can decrease significantly However there are multipledownsides of method The most obvious downside is that a smart-phone is needed (which is not always available especially in ruralareas of Africa) Additionally this method is not very suitable formonitoring water quality over a longer period of time (water qual-ity cannot be measured autonomously) Our research differs fromthe previously discussed projects since we focus specifically on theuse in rural Africa The measuring kit will not be dependent on asmartphone and is therefore suitable for autonomous continuouswater quality monitoring
3 METHODOLOGY31 Water quality parameter selectionIn order to design the water quality measuring kit water qualityparameters are selected together with the appropriate sensors tomeasure these parameters The parameters are selected based ontheir relevance in rural Africa This means that parameters that arehard to measure (because of a high sensor price or a complicatedprocedure) are not included in this research The parameters do pro-vide information about the quality of surface water The selectionof the parameters has been done using a literature review The finalresult of selecting water quality parameters is a table that containsinformation about each individual parameter
32 Measuring kit design and developmentBased on the table of water quality parameters the appropriatesensors have been selected The measurement device is using anArduino micro controller unit (MCU) to control the sensors Wehave chosen for Arduino because it is an inexpensive and open-source IO board that is often used for prototyping [3] Additionallythe availability of analog IO pins is convenient for reading analogvalues from various (water) sensors
The development of the kit includes research into the most ap-propriate power source housing and communication method withrespect to the context of rural Africa As has been described inthe related literature section multiple challenging factors shouldbe taken into account during the system development To be ableto find out how these constraints affect the design of the kit theconstraints are listed together with possible design options A listof design options is shown below This list is based on challengesfound by Pitula et al [13]
bull Power supply power net battery solar panels smartphonebattery
bull Connectivity using smartphone app GPRS LoRa SMSsave on SD card
bull Communication using smartphone app LCD screen webinterface
bull Operating conditions waterproof housing industrial sen-sor lab sensors
In the following sections two different types of usage scenariosare being described The system requirements and constraints aredetermined based on these scenarios
2
321 Water quality measurement on demand The water qual-ity kit is designed to be used on demand This means that whensomeone wants to know certain water quality parameters he orshe takes a sample of the water and puts in inside a cup Afterwardsthe sensors of the measuring kit are also placed in the cup to mea-sure the water quality Using the measuring kit using this methodhas implications for the system design Firstly powering the kitbecomes less of an issue since the kit could be powered by the user(eg via a smartphone or a power bank) Secondly connectivityand communication can also be handled via the smartphone Lastlymore (expensive) sensors could be connected to the kit becauseit will not be left unattended In contrast to the continuous mea-suring scenario (that will be discussed in the next section) fewersensors kits have to be created to be effective and that is anotherreason why sensor pricing is less of an issue A disadvantage of thismethod is that most water quality parameters are only relevant ifmeasured for a longer period of time (like temperature dissolvedoxygen and oxidation reduction potential) This means that theirvalue itself (without the ability to measure changes) is not veryhelpful in determining water quality A continuous water qualitymeasuring approach would overcome this problem
322 Continuous autonomous water quality measurement Incontrast to measuring on demand it is possible to do continuesmeasurements Multiple sensor kits will be placed at different lo-cations and they will constantly collect information about waterquality This is done using an Internet of Things (IoT) approachwhich will connect the sensors to the internet This has implicationson the system design including questions regarding how to powerthe system how to communicate the data to the stakeholders andhow to handle connectivity Possible answers to these questionsare using solar power communicate data via a web Graphical UserInterface (GUI) connectivity via GPRS Additionally the pricing ofthe sensor kit becomes more important since the kits can be stolenor damaged and because multiple sensor kits have to be created
33 Testing and evaluationThe device is built in multiple iterations The first prototype hasbeen shipped to rural Africa The testing phase is focusing on mul-tiple factors Firstly the sensors are tested to find out whether theyprovide accurate information about water quality This testing isdone using water samples collected from Ghana and Burkina FasoTesting in a real life setting is done in The Netherlands The sensorkit is placed at several rivers lakes and canals This is done both fortesting the sensors and to test and evaluate overall system design
In the end the evaluation of the system focuses on answering theresearch questions that were stated in section one This includesan answer to the first research question What is an effective designof a low-cost water quality measuring kit within the context of ruralAfrica An answer is provided by the description of an effectivedesign This is done by evaluating the requirements and by testingdifferent design option available to fulfill these requirements Aneffective system should be able to correctly measure water qual-ity parameters and make some conclusion about the actual waterquality In the evaluation the trade-off between building costs andmeasuring quality is explained An optimal solution is determined
for a system that is low-cost but still provides relevant informationabout water quality Depending on the usage scenario of the systemsome design options could be in favor of others The evaluationprovides a clear overview of what design decisions were taken dur-ing the development of the kit and what other design options areavailable Since this research is still work in progress the designdecisions are not extensively discussed in the results This will bedone at a later stage of the research
4 RESULTS41 Water quality parametersIn Appendix A a table can be found with a list of six water qualityparameters that are useful for this research In this table the pa-rameters are listed together with a description and a standard fordrinking water These standards come from both the United StatesEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Or-ganization (WHO) Some of the parameters provide clear safetyrange for drinking water For example water with a pH below 65should not be drunk But a parameter like temperature does byitself not provide information about whether the water is drinkableor not A bottle of water that has been heated by the sun can still beperfectly drinkable However when measured for a longer periodof time monitoring the water temperature can provide helpful in-sights into the water quality The final parameter list is composedbased on existing literature of research concerning water qualitymeasurement [8 14 15 18 20] According to Tuna et al the fol-lowing parameters are main parameters to measure water qualityelectrical conductivity dissolved oxygen nitrate pH temperatureturbidity
42 Development of the device421 First iteration The water quality kit of the first iteration
has been shipped to Mali for testing in the field This prototypecontained the following sensors temperature turbidity pH andTDS In Table 1 a more detailed overview of the specific sensorsand hardware of this device is listed The housing of the device hasbeen printed using a Ultimaker 3D printer The total price of thekit is around 200USD The price can be reduced by replacing thesolar power bank by a self built solar charging system (which hasbeen done in iteration two)
Table 1 Hardware specification of first iteration device
Type Description CostsHaoshi H-101 Industrial pH sensor $5695
Linkit One Development board for sensor con-trol
$5900
DFRobotanalog TDSsensor
TDS sensor $1290
DS18B20 Temperature sensor $690TSD-10 Turbidity sensor $990Xtorm Magma 3000 mAh solar power bank $5000
The device can operate both as water quality tool on demandor as continuous autonomous water quality monitoring tool (the
3
two use cases described in section 32) For the first use case a LCDscreen on the device displays water quality parameters in real timeFor the second use case the data is sent to a server The sensorswere controlled with a Linkit One4 This device runs the same codeas Arduino but has multiple connectivity options built in Amongother things GPRS and GPS are included GPRS is used to send thesensors data time and location to a server GPS is used to determinethe current location of the device The device operates as follows
(1) Set up device (connect sensors turn on solar panel)(2) Put the sensors in the water(3) Water quality parameters appear on LCD screen LCD back-
ground is green if the parameters are in a safe range thebackground becomes red if values are outside the safe range
(4) Water quality parameters and location are sent to the server
Figure 1 Block diagram of first iteration device
422 Second iteration The second iteration of the device iscurrently being constructed This iteration focuses on adding moresensors and on improving the construction of the device itselfAmong the new sensors is an ORP sensor When the first iterationdevice was shipped to rural Africa some internal wires came looseThe second generation device will therefore be more robust toprevent this from happening In this second iteration two separatedevices will be constructed This is done in order to fulfill therequirements that are specific for the two use cases described insection 32 One device will be used to measure water quality ondemand (an LCD screenwill be used to communicate the sensor datato the user) The other device is made for continues water qualitymeasurement this means that the device has to be waterproof andit should work autonomously No LCD screen will be connected tothis device sensor data is sent directly to the cloud Figure 2 depictsa prototype of the device
43 Online interfaceThe online interface displays the data that the device has sent toserver Using the time range selector it is possible to monitor andcompare water quality parameters over time The map shows thelocation of where the device was used to measure water qualityThe source code of the program can be found online5 Figure 3shows a screenshot of how the interface looks like
4httpwikiseeedstudiocomLinkIt_ONE5httpsgithubcomaoelencompteur-deau
Figure 2 Prototype of autonomous second iteration device
44 Water quality dataThe first iteration device did collect data from awell in Burkina FasoThe second iteration device has not been shipped to rural Africabut has been tested in The Netherlands This device is used to deter-mine the quality of water samples that were collected at multiplelocations in rural Africa The collected data is publicly available via[11] For the first iteration device that was tested in Burkina Fasoall measured values were within the safety range However somewater samples that were tested using the second iteration devicedid have a pH value that was below the EPA guideline (below pH65)
Figure 3 Online interface screenshot
4
5 DISCUSSIONThis research is still work in progress We expect to add more sen-sors in a later stage Some hardware changes will be made to makethe device more robust and to make it better suitable for moni-toring over a longer period of time Additionally a more detailedevaluation of the design decisions will be added
51 Device usageThe first prototype has been shipped a rural Africa The devicewas used by a researcher to measure the water quality at a certainlocation After the researcher left the device was given as a presentto the locals The device could have been used by them to testthe quality of different water sources However we did not receiveany data from the device which is an indication that the deviceis not used anymore Therefore one can question whether thewater quality on demand use case is a realistic scenario In theend such a device can never give a definitive result about whetherthe water is drinkable or not This means that using the device ondemand is less interesting to locals The device is still useful formonitoring water quality over a longer period of time The devicein this scenario works autonomously and therefore the previouslydescribed difficulty does not apply
52 SustainabilityAs has been described in the related literature section sustainabilityof ICT4D projects is often used as benchmark to measure projectsuccess A full sustainability study is out of scope for this researchhowever since sustainability is a crucial success factor of ICT4Dprojects we will discuss some aspects of this subject Both the hard-ware and software of the device are open-source Open-source forICT4D projects has multiple advantages With the respect to thehardware the advantage is that parts can be replaced with other(similar) hardware without the help of the product developers Thisis useful in multiple situations eg if certain components break or ifsomeone wants to extent the system For some sensors a BNC con-nector has been used This means that when a sensor probe stopsworking it is possible to replace this probe by a sensor with thesame BNC connection Since this connection is a common standardno internal parts need to be replaced Additionally the open-sourcesoftware also ensures that the system can be expanded or adjustedby any stakeholder In the end by using and providing open-sourcehardware and software we ensure that the original device develop-ers do not have an crucial role for system operation This benefitsthe overall sustainability of the water quality measuring device
53 Future workOnly the first iteration device has been shipped to rural Africa Inorder to ensure that the device is useful and capable for long-termoperation more devices should be tested in rural areas Futureresearch could focus on the actual deployment of the water qualitymeasuring device The feedback from stakeholders and the collectedsensor data from the device can be used to evaluate the device andto improve the overall system design
In this research we focused on using low-cost sensors tomeasureand monitor parameters specific to water quality Low-cost sensorkits can be useful for other applications in the ICT4D context as
well For example it is possible to develop low-cost weather stationsusing a similar setup as presented in this research The sensorswould be different but many of the requirements and design optionsare the same Another interesting research topic would be reusingold computer hardware For example computers have multiplesensors for measuring temperature research could focus on howto reuse such sensors in similar projects
REFERENCES[1] Maryam Ali and Savita Bailur 2007 The Challenge of Sustainability in ICT4D
- Is Bricolage the Answer Proceedings of the 9th International Conference onSocial Implications of Computers in Developing Coutries 29 May (2007) 54ndash60
[2] S R Carpenter N F Caraco D L Correll R WHowarth A N Sharpley andV H Smith 1998 Nonpoint pollution of surface waters with phosphorus andnitrogen Ecological Applications 8 1998 (1998) 559ndash568 httpsdoiorg1018901051-0761(1998)008[0559NPOSWW]20CO2
[3] Alessandro DrsquoAusilio 2012 Arduino A low-cost multipurpose lab equip-ment Behavior Research Methods 44 2 (2012) 305ndash313 httpsdoiorg103758s13428-011-0163-z
[4] H G Gorchev and G Ozolins 2011 WHO guidelines for drinking-water qualityWHO chronicle 38 3 (2011) 104ndash108 httpsdoiorg101016S1462-0758(00)00006-6
[5] Nana Baah Gyan 2016 The Web Speech Technologies and Rural Developmentin West Africa (2016)
[6] Richard Heeks 2002 Failure Success and Improvisation of Information SystemsProjects in Developing Countries Development 32 University of Manchester(2002) 45 httpsdoiorg1010160736-5853(84)90003-0
[7] Cn James Rc Copeland and Da Lytle 2004 Relationships between oxidation-reduction potential oxidant and pH in drinking water Proceedings of the AWWAWater Quality Technology Conference (2004) 1ndash13 httpscfpubepagovsisi_public_file_downloadcfmp_download_id=460980
[8] Peng Jiang Hongbo Xia Zhiye He and Zheming Wang 2009 Design of a waterenvironment monitoring system based on wireless sensor networks Sensors 9 8(2009) 6411ndash6434 httpsdoiorg103390s90806411
[9] James W Kirchner Xiahong Feng Colin Neal and Alice J Robson 2004 The finestructure of water-quality dynamics The (high-frequency) wave of the futureHydrological Processes 18 7 (2004) 1353ndash1359 httpsdoiorg101002hyp5537
[10] Saurabh Levin Sunderrajan Krishnan Samuel Rajkumar Nischal Halery andPradeep Balkunde 2016 Monitoring of fluoride in water samples using asmartphone Science of the Total Environment 551-552 (2016) 101ndash107 httpsdoiorg101016jscitotenv201601156
[11] Allard Oelen 2018 ICT4D Water quality measurement device - Data httpsdoiorg106084m9figshare6142811v1
[12] TS Parikh and DE Lazowska 2006 Designing an Architecture for DeliveringMobile Information Services to the Rural Developing World Proceedings ofthe 15th international Conference on World Wide Web (2006) 791ndash800 httpsdoiorg101109WMCSA20067
[13] Kristina Pitula and Deborah Dysart-Gale 2010 Expanding the Boundaries of HCI A Case Study in Requirements Engineering for ICT4D Information Technologiesamp International development 6 1 (2010) 78ndash93 httpitidjournalorgitidarticleview491216
[14] AS Rao S Marshall J Gubbi M Palaniswami R Sinnott and V Pettigrovet 2013Design of low-cost autonomous water quality monitoring system Proceedings ofthe 2013 International Conference on Advances in Computing Communications andInformatics ICACCI 2013 (2013) httpsdoiorg101109ICACCI20136637139
[15] Zulhani Rasin and Mohd Rizal Abdullah 2009 Water Quality Monitoring SystemUsing Zigbee BasedWireless Sensor Network International Journal of Engineeringamp Technology 9 10 (2009) 14ndash18
[16] The Environmental and Protection Agency 2001 Parameters of water qualityEnvironmental Protection (2001) 133 httpsdoiorg101017CBO9781107415324004
[17] Rahul Tongia and Eswaran Subrahmanian 2006 Information and Commu-nications Technology for Development (ICT4D) A Design Challenge 2006International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies andDevelopment 202 (2006) 243ndash255 httpsdoiorg101109ICTD2006301862
[18] Gurkan Tuna Orhan Arkoc and Kayhan Gulez 2013 Continuous monitoring ofwater quality using portable and low-cost approaches International Journal ofDistributed Sensor Networks 2013 (2013) httpsdoiorg1011552013249598
[19] Onno Valkering 2016 Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management10024 (2016) 697ndash712 httpsdoiorg101007978-3-319-49004-5
[20] N Vijayakumar and R Ramya 2015 The real time monitoring of water quality inIoT environment 2015 International Conference on Circuits Power and ComputingTechnologies [ICCPCT-2015] (2015) 1ndash4 httpsdoiorg101109ICCPCT20157159459
5
A LIST OF WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS
Parameter DescriptionDrinking water stan-dard Reference
Total Dissolved Solids(TDS)
Parameter to measure the total amountof dissolved solids A higher TDS mightbe an indication of pollution in the wa-ter
lt600 mgl WHO [4]
Dissolved oxygen (DO)
The amount of oxygen that is dissolvedin thewater Low levels of dissolved oxy-gen can be due to high water tempera-tures or can be indicative for bacteria inthe water
No guideline EPA6
Oxidation ReductionPotential (ORP)
The ability of water to either accept orrelease electrons Bacteria are killed byincreasing the ORP level
No guideline NSW7 EPA[7]
pH
Measure to determine whether the wa-ter is acidic (pH lt7) or basic (pH gt7)Water with a low pH contains elevatedamounts of toxic metals
65ltpHlt85 EPA8
TemperatureHigh water temperatures can cause thegrowth of microorganisms and can ef-fect the taste and smell of the water
No guideline WHO [4]
Turbidity
Measures suspended particles in the wa-ter The more particles the more changeof microorganisms in the water (whichcan be attached to the particles)
lt5 NTU WHO [4]
6
321 Water quality measurement on demand The water qual-ity kit is designed to be used on demand This means that whensomeone wants to know certain water quality parameters he orshe takes a sample of the water and puts in inside a cup Afterwardsthe sensors of the measuring kit are also placed in the cup to mea-sure the water quality Using the measuring kit using this methodhas implications for the system design Firstly powering the kitbecomes less of an issue since the kit could be powered by the user(eg via a smartphone or a power bank) Secondly connectivityand communication can also be handled via the smartphone Lastlymore (expensive) sensors could be connected to the kit becauseit will not be left unattended In contrast to the continuous mea-suring scenario (that will be discussed in the next section) fewersensors kits have to be created to be effective and that is anotherreason why sensor pricing is less of an issue A disadvantage of thismethod is that most water quality parameters are only relevant ifmeasured for a longer period of time (like temperature dissolvedoxygen and oxidation reduction potential) This means that theirvalue itself (without the ability to measure changes) is not veryhelpful in determining water quality A continuous water qualitymeasuring approach would overcome this problem
322 Continuous autonomous water quality measurement Incontrast to measuring on demand it is possible to do continuesmeasurements Multiple sensor kits will be placed at different lo-cations and they will constantly collect information about waterquality This is done using an Internet of Things (IoT) approachwhich will connect the sensors to the internet This has implicationson the system design including questions regarding how to powerthe system how to communicate the data to the stakeholders andhow to handle connectivity Possible answers to these questionsare using solar power communicate data via a web Graphical UserInterface (GUI) connectivity via GPRS Additionally the pricing ofthe sensor kit becomes more important since the kits can be stolenor damaged and because multiple sensor kits have to be created
33 Testing and evaluationThe device is built in multiple iterations The first prototype hasbeen shipped to rural Africa The testing phase is focusing on mul-tiple factors Firstly the sensors are tested to find out whether theyprovide accurate information about water quality This testing isdone using water samples collected from Ghana and Burkina FasoTesting in a real life setting is done in The Netherlands The sensorkit is placed at several rivers lakes and canals This is done both fortesting the sensors and to test and evaluate overall system design
In the end the evaluation of the system focuses on answering theresearch questions that were stated in section one This includesan answer to the first research question What is an effective designof a low-cost water quality measuring kit within the context of ruralAfrica An answer is provided by the description of an effectivedesign This is done by evaluating the requirements and by testingdifferent design option available to fulfill these requirements Aneffective system should be able to correctly measure water qual-ity parameters and make some conclusion about the actual waterquality In the evaluation the trade-off between building costs andmeasuring quality is explained An optimal solution is determined
for a system that is low-cost but still provides relevant informationabout water quality Depending on the usage scenario of the systemsome design options could be in favor of others The evaluationprovides a clear overview of what design decisions were taken dur-ing the development of the kit and what other design options areavailable Since this research is still work in progress the designdecisions are not extensively discussed in the results This will bedone at a later stage of the research
4 RESULTS41 Water quality parametersIn Appendix A a table can be found with a list of six water qualityparameters that are useful for this research In this table the pa-rameters are listed together with a description and a standard fordrinking water These standards come from both the United StatesEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Or-ganization (WHO) Some of the parameters provide clear safetyrange for drinking water For example water with a pH below 65should not be drunk But a parameter like temperature does byitself not provide information about whether the water is drinkableor not A bottle of water that has been heated by the sun can still beperfectly drinkable However when measured for a longer periodof time monitoring the water temperature can provide helpful in-sights into the water quality The final parameter list is composedbased on existing literature of research concerning water qualitymeasurement [8 14 15 18 20] According to Tuna et al the fol-lowing parameters are main parameters to measure water qualityelectrical conductivity dissolved oxygen nitrate pH temperatureturbidity
42 Development of the device421 First iteration The water quality kit of the first iteration
has been shipped to Mali for testing in the field This prototypecontained the following sensors temperature turbidity pH andTDS In Table 1 a more detailed overview of the specific sensorsand hardware of this device is listed The housing of the device hasbeen printed using a Ultimaker 3D printer The total price of thekit is around 200USD The price can be reduced by replacing thesolar power bank by a self built solar charging system (which hasbeen done in iteration two)
Table 1 Hardware specification of first iteration device
Type Description CostsHaoshi H-101 Industrial pH sensor $5695
Linkit One Development board for sensor con-trol
$5900
DFRobotanalog TDSsensor
TDS sensor $1290
DS18B20 Temperature sensor $690TSD-10 Turbidity sensor $990Xtorm Magma 3000 mAh solar power bank $5000
The device can operate both as water quality tool on demandor as continuous autonomous water quality monitoring tool (the
3
two use cases described in section 32) For the first use case a LCDscreen on the device displays water quality parameters in real timeFor the second use case the data is sent to a server The sensorswere controlled with a Linkit One4 This device runs the same codeas Arduino but has multiple connectivity options built in Amongother things GPRS and GPS are included GPRS is used to send thesensors data time and location to a server GPS is used to determinethe current location of the device The device operates as follows
(1) Set up device (connect sensors turn on solar panel)(2) Put the sensors in the water(3) Water quality parameters appear on LCD screen LCD back-
ground is green if the parameters are in a safe range thebackground becomes red if values are outside the safe range
(4) Water quality parameters and location are sent to the server
Figure 1 Block diagram of first iteration device
422 Second iteration The second iteration of the device iscurrently being constructed This iteration focuses on adding moresensors and on improving the construction of the device itselfAmong the new sensors is an ORP sensor When the first iterationdevice was shipped to rural Africa some internal wires came looseThe second generation device will therefore be more robust toprevent this from happening In this second iteration two separatedevices will be constructed This is done in order to fulfill therequirements that are specific for the two use cases described insection 32 One device will be used to measure water quality ondemand (an LCD screenwill be used to communicate the sensor datato the user) The other device is made for continues water qualitymeasurement this means that the device has to be waterproof andit should work autonomously No LCD screen will be connected tothis device sensor data is sent directly to the cloud Figure 2 depictsa prototype of the device
43 Online interfaceThe online interface displays the data that the device has sent toserver Using the time range selector it is possible to monitor andcompare water quality parameters over time The map shows thelocation of where the device was used to measure water qualityThe source code of the program can be found online5 Figure 3shows a screenshot of how the interface looks like
4httpwikiseeedstudiocomLinkIt_ONE5httpsgithubcomaoelencompteur-deau
Figure 2 Prototype of autonomous second iteration device
44 Water quality dataThe first iteration device did collect data from awell in Burkina FasoThe second iteration device has not been shipped to rural Africabut has been tested in The Netherlands This device is used to deter-mine the quality of water samples that were collected at multiplelocations in rural Africa The collected data is publicly available via[11] For the first iteration device that was tested in Burkina Fasoall measured values were within the safety range However somewater samples that were tested using the second iteration devicedid have a pH value that was below the EPA guideline (below pH65)
Figure 3 Online interface screenshot
4
5 DISCUSSIONThis research is still work in progress We expect to add more sen-sors in a later stage Some hardware changes will be made to makethe device more robust and to make it better suitable for moni-toring over a longer period of time Additionally a more detailedevaluation of the design decisions will be added
51 Device usageThe first prototype has been shipped a rural Africa The devicewas used by a researcher to measure the water quality at a certainlocation After the researcher left the device was given as a presentto the locals The device could have been used by them to testthe quality of different water sources However we did not receiveany data from the device which is an indication that the deviceis not used anymore Therefore one can question whether thewater quality on demand use case is a realistic scenario In theend such a device can never give a definitive result about whetherthe water is drinkable or not This means that using the device ondemand is less interesting to locals The device is still useful formonitoring water quality over a longer period of time The devicein this scenario works autonomously and therefore the previouslydescribed difficulty does not apply
52 SustainabilityAs has been described in the related literature section sustainabilityof ICT4D projects is often used as benchmark to measure projectsuccess A full sustainability study is out of scope for this researchhowever since sustainability is a crucial success factor of ICT4Dprojects we will discuss some aspects of this subject Both the hard-ware and software of the device are open-source Open-source forICT4D projects has multiple advantages With the respect to thehardware the advantage is that parts can be replaced with other(similar) hardware without the help of the product developers Thisis useful in multiple situations eg if certain components break or ifsomeone wants to extent the system For some sensors a BNC con-nector has been used This means that when a sensor probe stopsworking it is possible to replace this probe by a sensor with thesame BNC connection Since this connection is a common standardno internal parts need to be replaced Additionally the open-sourcesoftware also ensures that the system can be expanded or adjustedby any stakeholder In the end by using and providing open-sourcehardware and software we ensure that the original device develop-ers do not have an crucial role for system operation This benefitsthe overall sustainability of the water quality measuring device
53 Future workOnly the first iteration device has been shipped to rural Africa Inorder to ensure that the device is useful and capable for long-termoperation more devices should be tested in rural areas Futureresearch could focus on the actual deployment of the water qualitymeasuring device The feedback from stakeholders and the collectedsensor data from the device can be used to evaluate the device andto improve the overall system design
In this research we focused on using low-cost sensors tomeasureand monitor parameters specific to water quality Low-cost sensorkits can be useful for other applications in the ICT4D context as
well For example it is possible to develop low-cost weather stationsusing a similar setup as presented in this research The sensorswould be different but many of the requirements and design optionsare the same Another interesting research topic would be reusingold computer hardware For example computers have multiplesensors for measuring temperature research could focus on howto reuse such sensors in similar projects
REFERENCES[1] Maryam Ali and Savita Bailur 2007 The Challenge of Sustainability in ICT4D
- Is Bricolage the Answer Proceedings of the 9th International Conference onSocial Implications of Computers in Developing Coutries 29 May (2007) 54ndash60
[2] S R Carpenter N F Caraco D L Correll R WHowarth A N Sharpley andV H Smith 1998 Nonpoint pollution of surface waters with phosphorus andnitrogen Ecological Applications 8 1998 (1998) 559ndash568 httpsdoiorg1018901051-0761(1998)008[0559NPOSWW]20CO2
[3] Alessandro DrsquoAusilio 2012 Arduino A low-cost multipurpose lab equip-ment Behavior Research Methods 44 2 (2012) 305ndash313 httpsdoiorg103758s13428-011-0163-z
[4] H G Gorchev and G Ozolins 2011 WHO guidelines for drinking-water qualityWHO chronicle 38 3 (2011) 104ndash108 httpsdoiorg101016S1462-0758(00)00006-6
[5] Nana Baah Gyan 2016 The Web Speech Technologies and Rural Developmentin West Africa (2016)
[6] Richard Heeks 2002 Failure Success and Improvisation of Information SystemsProjects in Developing Countries Development 32 University of Manchester(2002) 45 httpsdoiorg1010160736-5853(84)90003-0
[7] Cn James Rc Copeland and Da Lytle 2004 Relationships between oxidation-reduction potential oxidant and pH in drinking water Proceedings of the AWWAWater Quality Technology Conference (2004) 1ndash13 httpscfpubepagovsisi_public_file_downloadcfmp_download_id=460980
[8] Peng Jiang Hongbo Xia Zhiye He and Zheming Wang 2009 Design of a waterenvironment monitoring system based on wireless sensor networks Sensors 9 8(2009) 6411ndash6434 httpsdoiorg103390s90806411
[9] James W Kirchner Xiahong Feng Colin Neal and Alice J Robson 2004 The finestructure of water-quality dynamics The (high-frequency) wave of the futureHydrological Processes 18 7 (2004) 1353ndash1359 httpsdoiorg101002hyp5537
[10] Saurabh Levin Sunderrajan Krishnan Samuel Rajkumar Nischal Halery andPradeep Balkunde 2016 Monitoring of fluoride in water samples using asmartphone Science of the Total Environment 551-552 (2016) 101ndash107 httpsdoiorg101016jscitotenv201601156
[11] Allard Oelen 2018 ICT4D Water quality measurement device - Data httpsdoiorg106084m9figshare6142811v1
[12] TS Parikh and DE Lazowska 2006 Designing an Architecture for DeliveringMobile Information Services to the Rural Developing World Proceedings ofthe 15th international Conference on World Wide Web (2006) 791ndash800 httpsdoiorg101109WMCSA20067
[13] Kristina Pitula and Deborah Dysart-Gale 2010 Expanding the Boundaries of HCI A Case Study in Requirements Engineering for ICT4D Information Technologiesamp International development 6 1 (2010) 78ndash93 httpitidjournalorgitidarticleview491216
[14] AS Rao S Marshall J Gubbi M Palaniswami R Sinnott and V Pettigrovet 2013Design of low-cost autonomous water quality monitoring system Proceedings ofthe 2013 International Conference on Advances in Computing Communications andInformatics ICACCI 2013 (2013) httpsdoiorg101109ICACCI20136637139
[15] Zulhani Rasin and Mohd Rizal Abdullah 2009 Water Quality Monitoring SystemUsing Zigbee BasedWireless Sensor Network International Journal of Engineeringamp Technology 9 10 (2009) 14ndash18
[16] The Environmental and Protection Agency 2001 Parameters of water qualityEnvironmental Protection (2001) 133 httpsdoiorg101017CBO9781107415324004
[17] Rahul Tongia and Eswaran Subrahmanian 2006 Information and Commu-nications Technology for Development (ICT4D) A Design Challenge 2006International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies andDevelopment 202 (2006) 243ndash255 httpsdoiorg101109ICTD2006301862
[18] Gurkan Tuna Orhan Arkoc and Kayhan Gulez 2013 Continuous monitoring ofwater quality using portable and low-cost approaches International Journal ofDistributed Sensor Networks 2013 (2013) httpsdoiorg1011552013249598
[19] Onno Valkering 2016 Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management10024 (2016) 697ndash712 httpsdoiorg101007978-3-319-49004-5
[20] N Vijayakumar and R Ramya 2015 The real time monitoring of water quality inIoT environment 2015 International Conference on Circuits Power and ComputingTechnologies [ICCPCT-2015] (2015) 1ndash4 httpsdoiorg101109ICCPCT20157159459
5
A LIST OF WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS
Parameter DescriptionDrinking water stan-dard Reference
Total Dissolved Solids(TDS)
Parameter to measure the total amountof dissolved solids A higher TDS mightbe an indication of pollution in the wa-ter
lt600 mgl WHO [4]
Dissolved oxygen (DO)
The amount of oxygen that is dissolvedin thewater Low levels of dissolved oxy-gen can be due to high water tempera-tures or can be indicative for bacteria inthe water
No guideline EPA6
Oxidation ReductionPotential (ORP)
The ability of water to either accept orrelease electrons Bacteria are killed byincreasing the ORP level
No guideline NSW7 EPA[7]
pH
Measure to determine whether the wa-ter is acidic (pH lt7) or basic (pH gt7)Water with a low pH contains elevatedamounts of toxic metals
65ltpHlt85 EPA8
TemperatureHigh water temperatures can cause thegrowth of microorganisms and can ef-fect the taste and smell of the water
No guideline WHO [4]
Turbidity
Measures suspended particles in the wa-ter The more particles the more changeof microorganisms in the water (whichcan be attached to the particles)
lt5 NTU WHO [4]
6
two use cases described in section 32) For the first use case a LCDscreen on the device displays water quality parameters in real timeFor the second use case the data is sent to a server The sensorswere controlled with a Linkit One4 This device runs the same codeas Arduino but has multiple connectivity options built in Amongother things GPRS and GPS are included GPRS is used to send thesensors data time and location to a server GPS is used to determinethe current location of the device The device operates as follows
(1) Set up device (connect sensors turn on solar panel)(2) Put the sensors in the water(3) Water quality parameters appear on LCD screen LCD back-
ground is green if the parameters are in a safe range thebackground becomes red if values are outside the safe range
(4) Water quality parameters and location are sent to the server
Figure 1 Block diagram of first iteration device
422 Second iteration The second iteration of the device iscurrently being constructed This iteration focuses on adding moresensors and on improving the construction of the device itselfAmong the new sensors is an ORP sensor When the first iterationdevice was shipped to rural Africa some internal wires came looseThe second generation device will therefore be more robust toprevent this from happening In this second iteration two separatedevices will be constructed This is done in order to fulfill therequirements that are specific for the two use cases described insection 32 One device will be used to measure water quality ondemand (an LCD screenwill be used to communicate the sensor datato the user) The other device is made for continues water qualitymeasurement this means that the device has to be waterproof andit should work autonomously No LCD screen will be connected tothis device sensor data is sent directly to the cloud Figure 2 depictsa prototype of the device
43 Online interfaceThe online interface displays the data that the device has sent toserver Using the time range selector it is possible to monitor andcompare water quality parameters over time The map shows thelocation of where the device was used to measure water qualityThe source code of the program can be found online5 Figure 3shows a screenshot of how the interface looks like
4httpwikiseeedstudiocomLinkIt_ONE5httpsgithubcomaoelencompteur-deau
Figure 2 Prototype of autonomous second iteration device
44 Water quality dataThe first iteration device did collect data from awell in Burkina FasoThe second iteration device has not been shipped to rural Africabut has been tested in The Netherlands This device is used to deter-mine the quality of water samples that were collected at multiplelocations in rural Africa The collected data is publicly available via[11] For the first iteration device that was tested in Burkina Fasoall measured values were within the safety range However somewater samples that were tested using the second iteration devicedid have a pH value that was below the EPA guideline (below pH65)
Figure 3 Online interface screenshot
4
5 DISCUSSIONThis research is still work in progress We expect to add more sen-sors in a later stage Some hardware changes will be made to makethe device more robust and to make it better suitable for moni-toring over a longer period of time Additionally a more detailedevaluation of the design decisions will be added
51 Device usageThe first prototype has been shipped a rural Africa The devicewas used by a researcher to measure the water quality at a certainlocation After the researcher left the device was given as a presentto the locals The device could have been used by them to testthe quality of different water sources However we did not receiveany data from the device which is an indication that the deviceis not used anymore Therefore one can question whether thewater quality on demand use case is a realistic scenario In theend such a device can never give a definitive result about whetherthe water is drinkable or not This means that using the device ondemand is less interesting to locals The device is still useful formonitoring water quality over a longer period of time The devicein this scenario works autonomously and therefore the previouslydescribed difficulty does not apply
52 SustainabilityAs has been described in the related literature section sustainabilityof ICT4D projects is often used as benchmark to measure projectsuccess A full sustainability study is out of scope for this researchhowever since sustainability is a crucial success factor of ICT4Dprojects we will discuss some aspects of this subject Both the hard-ware and software of the device are open-source Open-source forICT4D projects has multiple advantages With the respect to thehardware the advantage is that parts can be replaced with other(similar) hardware without the help of the product developers Thisis useful in multiple situations eg if certain components break or ifsomeone wants to extent the system For some sensors a BNC con-nector has been used This means that when a sensor probe stopsworking it is possible to replace this probe by a sensor with thesame BNC connection Since this connection is a common standardno internal parts need to be replaced Additionally the open-sourcesoftware also ensures that the system can be expanded or adjustedby any stakeholder In the end by using and providing open-sourcehardware and software we ensure that the original device develop-ers do not have an crucial role for system operation This benefitsthe overall sustainability of the water quality measuring device
53 Future workOnly the first iteration device has been shipped to rural Africa Inorder to ensure that the device is useful and capable for long-termoperation more devices should be tested in rural areas Futureresearch could focus on the actual deployment of the water qualitymeasuring device The feedback from stakeholders and the collectedsensor data from the device can be used to evaluate the device andto improve the overall system design
In this research we focused on using low-cost sensors tomeasureand monitor parameters specific to water quality Low-cost sensorkits can be useful for other applications in the ICT4D context as
well For example it is possible to develop low-cost weather stationsusing a similar setup as presented in this research The sensorswould be different but many of the requirements and design optionsare the same Another interesting research topic would be reusingold computer hardware For example computers have multiplesensors for measuring temperature research could focus on howto reuse such sensors in similar projects
REFERENCES[1] Maryam Ali and Savita Bailur 2007 The Challenge of Sustainability in ICT4D
- Is Bricolage the Answer Proceedings of the 9th International Conference onSocial Implications of Computers in Developing Coutries 29 May (2007) 54ndash60
[2] S R Carpenter N F Caraco D L Correll R WHowarth A N Sharpley andV H Smith 1998 Nonpoint pollution of surface waters with phosphorus andnitrogen Ecological Applications 8 1998 (1998) 559ndash568 httpsdoiorg1018901051-0761(1998)008[0559NPOSWW]20CO2
[3] Alessandro DrsquoAusilio 2012 Arduino A low-cost multipurpose lab equip-ment Behavior Research Methods 44 2 (2012) 305ndash313 httpsdoiorg103758s13428-011-0163-z
[4] H G Gorchev and G Ozolins 2011 WHO guidelines for drinking-water qualityWHO chronicle 38 3 (2011) 104ndash108 httpsdoiorg101016S1462-0758(00)00006-6
[5] Nana Baah Gyan 2016 The Web Speech Technologies and Rural Developmentin West Africa (2016)
[6] Richard Heeks 2002 Failure Success and Improvisation of Information SystemsProjects in Developing Countries Development 32 University of Manchester(2002) 45 httpsdoiorg1010160736-5853(84)90003-0
[7] Cn James Rc Copeland and Da Lytle 2004 Relationships between oxidation-reduction potential oxidant and pH in drinking water Proceedings of the AWWAWater Quality Technology Conference (2004) 1ndash13 httpscfpubepagovsisi_public_file_downloadcfmp_download_id=460980
[8] Peng Jiang Hongbo Xia Zhiye He and Zheming Wang 2009 Design of a waterenvironment monitoring system based on wireless sensor networks Sensors 9 8(2009) 6411ndash6434 httpsdoiorg103390s90806411
[9] James W Kirchner Xiahong Feng Colin Neal and Alice J Robson 2004 The finestructure of water-quality dynamics The (high-frequency) wave of the futureHydrological Processes 18 7 (2004) 1353ndash1359 httpsdoiorg101002hyp5537
[10] Saurabh Levin Sunderrajan Krishnan Samuel Rajkumar Nischal Halery andPradeep Balkunde 2016 Monitoring of fluoride in water samples using asmartphone Science of the Total Environment 551-552 (2016) 101ndash107 httpsdoiorg101016jscitotenv201601156
[11] Allard Oelen 2018 ICT4D Water quality measurement device - Data httpsdoiorg106084m9figshare6142811v1
[12] TS Parikh and DE Lazowska 2006 Designing an Architecture for DeliveringMobile Information Services to the Rural Developing World Proceedings ofthe 15th international Conference on World Wide Web (2006) 791ndash800 httpsdoiorg101109WMCSA20067
[13] Kristina Pitula and Deborah Dysart-Gale 2010 Expanding the Boundaries of HCI A Case Study in Requirements Engineering for ICT4D Information Technologiesamp International development 6 1 (2010) 78ndash93 httpitidjournalorgitidarticleview491216
[14] AS Rao S Marshall J Gubbi M Palaniswami R Sinnott and V Pettigrovet 2013Design of low-cost autonomous water quality monitoring system Proceedings ofthe 2013 International Conference on Advances in Computing Communications andInformatics ICACCI 2013 (2013) httpsdoiorg101109ICACCI20136637139
[15] Zulhani Rasin and Mohd Rizal Abdullah 2009 Water Quality Monitoring SystemUsing Zigbee BasedWireless Sensor Network International Journal of Engineeringamp Technology 9 10 (2009) 14ndash18
[16] The Environmental and Protection Agency 2001 Parameters of water qualityEnvironmental Protection (2001) 133 httpsdoiorg101017CBO9781107415324004
[17] Rahul Tongia and Eswaran Subrahmanian 2006 Information and Commu-nications Technology for Development (ICT4D) A Design Challenge 2006International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies andDevelopment 202 (2006) 243ndash255 httpsdoiorg101109ICTD2006301862
[18] Gurkan Tuna Orhan Arkoc and Kayhan Gulez 2013 Continuous monitoring ofwater quality using portable and low-cost approaches International Journal ofDistributed Sensor Networks 2013 (2013) httpsdoiorg1011552013249598
[19] Onno Valkering 2016 Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management10024 (2016) 697ndash712 httpsdoiorg101007978-3-319-49004-5
[20] N Vijayakumar and R Ramya 2015 The real time monitoring of water quality inIoT environment 2015 International Conference on Circuits Power and ComputingTechnologies [ICCPCT-2015] (2015) 1ndash4 httpsdoiorg101109ICCPCT20157159459
5
A LIST OF WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS
Parameter DescriptionDrinking water stan-dard Reference
Total Dissolved Solids(TDS)
Parameter to measure the total amountof dissolved solids A higher TDS mightbe an indication of pollution in the wa-ter
lt600 mgl WHO [4]
Dissolved oxygen (DO)
The amount of oxygen that is dissolvedin thewater Low levels of dissolved oxy-gen can be due to high water tempera-tures or can be indicative for bacteria inthe water
No guideline EPA6
Oxidation ReductionPotential (ORP)
The ability of water to either accept orrelease electrons Bacteria are killed byincreasing the ORP level
No guideline NSW7 EPA[7]
pH
Measure to determine whether the wa-ter is acidic (pH lt7) or basic (pH gt7)Water with a low pH contains elevatedamounts of toxic metals
65ltpHlt85 EPA8
TemperatureHigh water temperatures can cause thegrowth of microorganisms and can ef-fect the taste and smell of the water
No guideline WHO [4]
Turbidity
Measures suspended particles in the wa-ter The more particles the more changeof microorganisms in the water (whichcan be attached to the particles)
lt5 NTU WHO [4]
6
5 DISCUSSIONThis research is still work in progress We expect to add more sen-sors in a later stage Some hardware changes will be made to makethe device more robust and to make it better suitable for moni-toring over a longer period of time Additionally a more detailedevaluation of the design decisions will be added
51 Device usageThe first prototype has been shipped a rural Africa The devicewas used by a researcher to measure the water quality at a certainlocation After the researcher left the device was given as a presentto the locals The device could have been used by them to testthe quality of different water sources However we did not receiveany data from the device which is an indication that the deviceis not used anymore Therefore one can question whether thewater quality on demand use case is a realistic scenario In theend such a device can never give a definitive result about whetherthe water is drinkable or not This means that using the device ondemand is less interesting to locals The device is still useful formonitoring water quality over a longer period of time The devicein this scenario works autonomously and therefore the previouslydescribed difficulty does not apply
52 SustainabilityAs has been described in the related literature section sustainabilityof ICT4D projects is often used as benchmark to measure projectsuccess A full sustainability study is out of scope for this researchhowever since sustainability is a crucial success factor of ICT4Dprojects we will discuss some aspects of this subject Both the hard-ware and software of the device are open-source Open-source forICT4D projects has multiple advantages With the respect to thehardware the advantage is that parts can be replaced with other(similar) hardware without the help of the product developers Thisis useful in multiple situations eg if certain components break or ifsomeone wants to extent the system For some sensors a BNC con-nector has been used This means that when a sensor probe stopsworking it is possible to replace this probe by a sensor with thesame BNC connection Since this connection is a common standardno internal parts need to be replaced Additionally the open-sourcesoftware also ensures that the system can be expanded or adjustedby any stakeholder In the end by using and providing open-sourcehardware and software we ensure that the original device develop-ers do not have an crucial role for system operation This benefitsthe overall sustainability of the water quality measuring device
53 Future workOnly the first iteration device has been shipped to rural Africa Inorder to ensure that the device is useful and capable for long-termoperation more devices should be tested in rural areas Futureresearch could focus on the actual deployment of the water qualitymeasuring device The feedback from stakeholders and the collectedsensor data from the device can be used to evaluate the device andto improve the overall system design
In this research we focused on using low-cost sensors tomeasureand monitor parameters specific to water quality Low-cost sensorkits can be useful for other applications in the ICT4D context as
well For example it is possible to develop low-cost weather stationsusing a similar setup as presented in this research The sensorswould be different but many of the requirements and design optionsare the same Another interesting research topic would be reusingold computer hardware For example computers have multiplesensors for measuring temperature research could focus on howto reuse such sensors in similar projects
REFERENCES[1] Maryam Ali and Savita Bailur 2007 The Challenge of Sustainability in ICT4D
- Is Bricolage the Answer Proceedings of the 9th International Conference onSocial Implications of Computers in Developing Coutries 29 May (2007) 54ndash60
[2] S R Carpenter N F Caraco D L Correll R WHowarth A N Sharpley andV H Smith 1998 Nonpoint pollution of surface waters with phosphorus andnitrogen Ecological Applications 8 1998 (1998) 559ndash568 httpsdoiorg1018901051-0761(1998)008[0559NPOSWW]20CO2
[3] Alessandro DrsquoAusilio 2012 Arduino A low-cost multipurpose lab equip-ment Behavior Research Methods 44 2 (2012) 305ndash313 httpsdoiorg103758s13428-011-0163-z
[4] H G Gorchev and G Ozolins 2011 WHO guidelines for drinking-water qualityWHO chronicle 38 3 (2011) 104ndash108 httpsdoiorg101016S1462-0758(00)00006-6
[5] Nana Baah Gyan 2016 The Web Speech Technologies and Rural Developmentin West Africa (2016)
[6] Richard Heeks 2002 Failure Success and Improvisation of Information SystemsProjects in Developing Countries Development 32 University of Manchester(2002) 45 httpsdoiorg1010160736-5853(84)90003-0
[7] Cn James Rc Copeland and Da Lytle 2004 Relationships between oxidation-reduction potential oxidant and pH in drinking water Proceedings of the AWWAWater Quality Technology Conference (2004) 1ndash13 httpscfpubepagovsisi_public_file_downloadcfmp_download_id=460980
[8] Peng Jiang Hongbo Xia Zhiye He and Zheming Wang 2009 Design of a waterenvironment monitoring system based on wireless sensor networks Sensors 9 8(2009) 6411ndash6434 httpsdoiorg103390s90806411
[9] James W Kirchner Xiahong Feng Colin Neal and Alice J Robson 2004 The finestructure of water-quality dynamics The (high-frequency) wave of the futureHydrological Processes 18 7 (2004) 1353ndash1359 httpsdoiorg101002hyp5537
[10] Saurabh Levin Sunderrajan Krishnan Samuel Rajkumar Nischal Halery andPradeep Balkunde 2016 Monitoring of fluoride in water samples using asmartphone Science of the Total Environment 551-552 (2016) 101ndash107 httpsdoiorg101016jscitotenv201601156
[11] Allard Oelen 2018 ICT4D Water quality measurement device - Data httpsdoiorg106084m9figshare6142811v1
[12] TS Parikh and DE Lazowska 2006 Designing an Architecture for DeliveringMobile Information Services to the Rural Developing World Proceedings ofthe 15th international Conference on World Wide Web (2006) 791ndash800 httpsdoiorg101109WMCSA20067
[13] Kristina Pitula and Deborah Dysart-Gale 2010 Expanding the Boundaries of HCI A Case Study in Requirements Engineering for ICT4D Information Technologiesamp International development 6 1 (2010) 78ndash93 httpitidjournalorgitidarticleview491216
[14] AS Rao S Marshall J Gubbi M Palaniswami R Sinnott and V Pettigrovet 2013Design of low-cost autonomous water quality monitoring system Proceedings ofthe 2013 International Conference on Advances in Computing Communications andInformatics ICACCI 2013 (2013) httpsdoiorg101109ICACCI20136637139
[15] Zulhani Rasin and Mohd Rizal Abdullah 2009 Water Quality Monitoring SystemUsing Zigbee BasedWireless Sensor Network International Journal of Engineeringamp Technology 9 10 (2009) 14ndash18
[16] The Environmental and Protection Agency 2001 Parameters of water qualityEnvironmental Protection (2001) 133 httpsdoiorg101017CBO9781107415324004
[17] Rahul Tongia and Eswaran Subrahmanian 2006 Information and Commu-nications Technology for Development (ICT4D) A Design Challenge 2006International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies andDevelopment 202 (2006) 243ndash255 httpsdoiorg101109ICTD2006301862
[18] Gurkan Tuna Orhan Arkoc and Kayhan Gulez 2013 Continuous monitoring ofwater quality using portable and low-cost approaches International Journal ofDistributed Sensor Networks 2013 (2013) httpsdoiorg1011552013249598
[19] Onno Valkering 2016 Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management10024 (2016) 697ndash712 httpsdoiorg101007978-3-319-49004-5
[20] N Vijayakumar and R Ramya 2015 The real time monitoring of water quality inIoT environment 2015 International Conference on Circuits Power and ComputingTechnologies [ICCPCT-2015] (2015) 1ndash4 httpsdoiorg101109ICCPCT20157159459
5
A LIST OF WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS
Parameter DescriptionDrinking water stan-dard Reference
Total Dissolved Solids(TDS)
Parameter to measure the total amountof dissolved solids A higher TDS mightbe an indication of pollution in the wa-ter
lt600 mgl WHO [4]
Dissolved oxygen (DO)
The amount of oxygen that is dissolvedin thewater Low levels of dissolved oxy-gen can be due to high water tempera-tures or can be indicative for bacteria inthe water
No guideline EPA6
Oxidation ReductionPotential (ORP)
The ability of water to either accept orrelease electrons Bacteria are killed byincreasing the ORP level
No guideline NSW7 EPA[7]
pH
Measure to determine whether the wa-ter is acidic (pH lt7) or basic (pH gt7)Water with a low pH contains elevatedamounts of toxic metals
65ltpHlt85 EPA8
TemperatureHigh water temperatures can cause thegrowth of microorganisms and can ef-fect the taste and smell of the water
No guideline WHO [4]
Turbidity
Measures suspended particles in the wa-ter The more particles the more changeof microorganisms in the water (whichcan be attached to the particles)
lt5 NTU WHO [4]
6
A LIST OF WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS
Parameter DescriptionDrinking water stan-dard Reference
Total Dissolved Solids(TDS)
Parameter to measure the total amountof dissolved solids A higher TDS mightbe an indication of pollution in the wa-ter
lt600 mgl WHO [4]
Dissolved oxygen (DO)
The amount of oxygen that is dissolvedin thewater Low levels of dissolved oxy-gen can be due to high water tempera-tures or can be indicative for bacteria inthe water
No guideline EPA6
Oxidation ReductionPotential (ORP)
The ability of water to either accept orrelease electrons Bacteria are killed byincreasing the ORP level
No guideline NSW7 EPA[7]
pH
Measure to determine whether the wa-ter is acidic (pH lt7) or basic (pH gt7)Water with a low pH contains elevatedamounts of toxic metals
65ltpHlt85 EPA8
TemperatureHigh water temperatures can cause thegrowth of microorganisms and can ef-fect the taste and smell of the water
No guideline WHO [4]
Turbidity
Measures suspended particles in the wa-ter The more particles the more changeof microorganisms in the water (whichcan be attached to the particles)
lt5 NTU WHO [4]
6
