Don’t Flush Me! Water Quality sensors
Waterborne diarrhoeal diseases are responsible for 2 million deaths worldwide each year (WHO). In 2015, up to 21 million Americans may have been exposed to unsafe drinking water (NYTimes). Clean water is important. But how can citizens be empowered with the information they need on the quality of the water they drink?
The organization ‘Don’t Flush Me’ is working on a campaign to get public participation in building and installing sensors that can measure water pollution in the New York Harbor coming from sewage overflows. The sensors only cost 200$ to produce and their blueprints and parts are easily available. It can be made at home by anyone with a little coding knowledge. More polluted water has higher electric conductivity, and the sensor measures this one element to determine purity levels. The sensor is built using an Arduino and powered with a lithium ion battery. The information collected is broadcast via an alert network, and a light is be set up to change color based on water quality.
At the University of British Columbia a 3D printed water quality sensor was tested. This sensor measures turbidity, pH, conductivity, temperature, and residual chlorine, and sends the data wirelessly to a central system.
Both these devices are easy to mass produce and can be used in communities all over the world to test water quality on more of a micro scale than is currently being done. Each water pump in a village for example can have a Don’t Flush Me sensor on it with a light that changes color to alert the people who may drink from it that it needs further purification. In a city they can be used to test the water supply in a building, and take action if the water is not up to standard.
The cost of these sensors is low, but not free, so monetary support, either from international NGOs or local governments is needed in their production and installation in poor areas or in any public water systems.
https://www.ioby.org/project/dontflushme
3-D-printed water quality sensor tested: Inexpensive and tiny devices inspect water quality in the distribution system. (2017, July 19). Retrieved October 26, 2018, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170719092142.htm
Plumer, B., & Popovich, N. (2018, October 2). Here Are the Places That Struggle to Meet the Rules on Safe Drinking Water. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/12/climate/drinking-water-safety.html
Water Quality Sensor. Retrieved October 26, 2018, from https://publiclab.org/wiki/water-quality-sensor
WHO. (n.d.). Waterborne disease related to unsafe water and sanitation. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/sustainable-development/housing/health-risks/waterborne-disease/en/
