AquaPredicto — Freshwater quality management system for lakes

Abstract

Lakes are important part of urban ecosystem. They are small aquatic bodies, but perform significant environmental, social and economic functions. Their contribution ranges from being a source of drinking water, recharging groundwater, acting as sponges to control flooding, supporting biodiversity and providing livelihoods. Many economic sectors such as agriculture, domestic applications consider lakes as easily available source of water for their day to day needs. Lakes may be man-made or natural, fresh water or brackish; but they play a very vital role in maintaining environmental sustainability particularly in urban environments. In today's urbanization, especially in contexts when the cities are facing the challenges of enhanced traffic and pollution, lakes and freshwater bodies are the hopes for restoring the ecosystem. At present, in India, lakes and wetlands are in extremely bad shape and are suffering from varying degrees of environmental degradation. Despite knowing their environmental, social and economic significance, city planners have given least importance to protect them and have even destroyed these water bodies. Due to unplanned industrialization, much of the landscape around the lakes in urban area and their surroundings has been covered by impervious surfaces. As a result, instead of rainwater, it is the sewage and effluents that are filling up urban water bodies. Once the known sponges of urban area, today urban lakes have turned into hazards needing utmost attention, that get choked even with low rainfall and overflow into the blocked canals during high rainfall. In recent times, during the rainy season, the lakes and fresh water bodies have become reasons for causing floods in the city. The cities are witnessing eventual disappearance of these sponges that has exacerbated floods and sharpened the pain of droughts. In an attempt to provide a solution to this complex problem, our paper presents a model and testing mechanism towards bringing the awareness about the lake water health monitoring. Our system consists of sensors including temperature, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and pH sensor to calculate the water quality index and create the mathematical model to predict the variation of the parameters in the future. The system will help the stakeholders and public to be aware of the condition of the lakes and take corrective actions to prevent further degradation.