Water Quality Telemetry, Final Progress Report

Abstract

Water quality standards are now part of the legal code set up to control water pollution. In order to ascertain that these standards are being met, it is mandatory to monitor any river system over which control must be maintained. For optimum, usefulness, data on the monitored variables should be available on a real time basis at any time throughout the 24-hour day. Remote sampling stations and a telemetry link represent the most practical means of accomplishing this end. A water quality monitoring system utilizing radio telemetry has been developed at the Utah Water Research Laboratory (UWRL). The system consists of battery operated remote sampling stations which measure a variety of water quality parameters and serially transmit the data on call to a central calling and receiving station. Because the remote unit uses radio telemetry and battery power, monitoring can be conducted at any desired location, and site selection can be dictated purely by pollution measurement considerations with little regard for proximity to power or telephone lines. A major problem associated with most water quality monitoring systems is the large physical size of the remote installation (typically, a semi-permanent building or van type trailer). The UWRL system is small enough to be hand-carried to an installation site. This vast reduction in size and a corresponding cost reduction has been accomplished by the user of the latest developments in solid state integrated circuits. Circuitry and cost details for the complete system are presented by tables, charts, and figures.