SMART SOLAR-POWERED WATER QUALITY MONITOR AND PURIFIER

Abstract

The Access to clean drinking water remains a critical global challenge, exacerbated by industrial pollution and inadequate monitoring infrastructure. Traditional water testing methods are often slow, manual, and lack real-time capabilities. This project presents the design and implementation of an automated, IoT-based, solar-powered water quality monitoring and purification system, offering a sustainable and smart solution for decentralized water management. The system utilizes an array of sensors—including pH, turbidity, temperature, and total dissolved solids (TDS)—to continuously assess water quality parameters in real time. The collected data is processed by a microcontroller and transmitted via a Wi-Fi/GSM module to a cloud-based IoT platform, enabling users and authorities to monitor water safety remotely through a dedicated dashboard or mobile application. A key innovation of this system is its closed-loop automation: when sensor readings deviate from permissible World Health Organization (WHO) standards, the system automatically triggers an integrated purification unit. This treatment phase utilizes multi-stage filtration, including carbon filtering and ultraviolet (UV) sterilization, to eliminate physical contaminants and harmful pathogens. To ensure complete energy independence and environmental sustainability, the entire setup—including the sensors, microcontroller, and purification pumps—is powered by a photovoltaic solar panel integrated with a battery management system. Experimental results demonstrate that the system accurately detects contamination levels with high precision and low latency. The automated purification unit successfully restores non-potable water to safe drinking standards, significantly reducing turbidity and microbial presence. Ultimately, this self-sustaining, costeffective, and scalable device bridges the gap between real-time data collection and immediate corrective action, making it highly viable for remote, off-grid communities and smart city applications.