Flood and Water Monitoring Systems
Where’s the City of Virginia Beach?
You probably guessed that it’s on a beach in the states. And you’re right.
Communities near beaches are seeing an increase in water risks.
Flooding emergencies can happen at any time due to storm surge, rain, tides, hurricanes, you name it, you got it.
Since our water levels are rising, coastal cities need flood monitoring systems to keep families safe. How do you do that? Are you ready?
The photos in this story feature flood monitoring systems deployed in Virginia on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Do these monitoring units help us prepare for emergencies, like those that have to do with water flow and levels?
How do flood monitoring systems work?
Flood and water monitoring systems measure water levels using various Industrial IoT sensor technologies, like the following:
- Ultrasonic depth sensors
- Pressure transducers
- Radar level sensors
Depending on your scenario and environment, the best fit combination of water sensors will vary.
Some communities need units with all types of sensors — a variety pack. Others need all of their flood monitoring systems to use 1 sensor flavor.
Water sensors are made by a wide variety of sensor hardware manufacturers. The key challenge is to find remote monitoring software that’s open and can talk to sensors made by all sensor makers.
In the photos you’re lookin’ at ultrasonic level sensors made by Flowline and Senix. It’s a big world out there and various use cases / case studies integrate a wide variety of sensor flavors. Favorite brands of water sensors for Industrial IoT Customers include Senix, In-Situ, McCrometer, Campbell Scientific, Omega, Vaisala, Eno Scientific, and Geokon.
Pressure transducers report the weight or pressure of water above them, so they’re deployed at the bottom of wherever fluids are.
Radar and ultrasonic level sensors are non-contact. They’re deployed above liquids, like on bridges or at the tops of tanks.
Ultrasonic and radar level sensors send out pulses, and based on reflected signals, you know water levels in near real-time. If you listen carefully to sonar or ultrasonic level sensors, you’ll hear a little chirp regularly sent out. It’s not a bird, nor a plane, it’s a water level sensor.
Now that you know how to monitor water — How do you and your community know what’s going on remotely in far away lands?
Fortunately, we have the clouds.
Water sensor information is uploaded to a webpage as often as you want it.
Whether it’s every couple minutes or on the top of each hour. You’re able to view it, analyze it, map it, API download it, graph it, call it whatever you want, just don’t call it late for dinner.
You can get text messages and e-mail alerts that tell you right away when levels are really high (flooding) or low (droughts). Since we’ve all got these supercomputer telephones in our pockets, you’ll know sooner rather than later. That’s what early warning systems are all about — keeping you, your family, and community safe from dangerous hazards.
You may have noticed in the photos that water and flood monitoring systems are rapidly deployable. They’re cost-effective, mobile, and simple to move around.
Water monitoring systems can easily be mounted over bridges, rivers, streams, and anywhere else you need to remotely monitor anything.
With water monitoring systems connected to Tools.Valarm.net, you’ve got dashboards that make it easy for you and your teams to view and manage your water information.
Historical analysis is straightforward since all sensor measurements are automatically stored in the cloud. So you can access your history — as well as your current water sensor data — anywhere, any time.
That’s your bird’s eye view overview on flood warning systems for Smart Cites like Virginia Beach and Newport News.
Do you, your teams, your organization, and community need to deploy remote water monitoring systems?
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at Info@Valarm.net if you’ve got any questions.
