It challenges third-year engineering students to develop an integrated data collection system made up of phone apps, water quality testing devices, unmanned aerial vehicles, and a website for reporting.
The goal was to let people take direct action, using the phone apps, when they suspected water pollution.
This is the third year Victoria students have worked on the RiverWatch project as part of their course work.
Teaching fellow Lawrence Collingbourne, the business owner on behalf of the university, said things were taking off this year.
“Each team of students that works on this project is pushing the frontiers even further.
“This year we have teams developing water testing devices, using quadcopters to gather information in real time, and launching apps to cover a wider range of smartphone platforms including Windows phones.”
The project enabled information to be crowd-sourced as people used the app on their phone to photograph water pollution. The photo and the GPS co-ordinates were then uploaded and, once verified, appeared on the RiverWatch website.
If the photo showed something of concern, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) could then be sent to gather further evidence.
The introduction of quadcopters to work alongside the existing small aeroplanes meant the footage could be seen and captured in real time while the introduction of a water quality testing device allowed more conclusive evidence of pollution to be gathered, he said.
Engineering students Daniel Yeoh and Hamish Colenso and their teams had been working on two different water testing prototypes that did not require any specialist knowledge or skills to operate.
Both devices measured water temperature and conductivity, which increased when there was pollution, and had Bluetooth sensors to communicate directly with the RiverWatch app to report issues identified.
Colenso’s prototype was built for durability and could be left in the water to monitor pollution levels over time or, with minor modifications, be taken out by a UAV and dunked in the water for an immediate test.
Yeoh’s prototype ran off AA batteries, rather than a lithium ion battery, making it an affordable option.
Colenso said creating the devices was hard work and stressful at times but working with a real client had also been an excellent learning opportunity.
More than 70 photographs of water pollution have been published on the WaiNZ website and Collingbourne hoped that number would continue to grow with the project.
“More than half of New Zealanders now have smartphones.
“By extending the platforms the app covers, we hope to empower more New Zealanders to participate and become kaitiaki for their local rivers and streams.”
