Development of a Cost-Effective Multiparametric Probe for Continuous Real-Time Monitoring of Aquatic Environments

Continuous, real-time measurements are essential for informed water resource management and the development of strategies for the protection of aquatic ecosystems. Traditional methods of water quality assessment often fail to adequately capture seasonal trends, and the frequency and rapidity of fluctuations. To address this challenge, a standalone, low-cost (<EUR 1000), autonomous multisensor prototype for remote assessment was developed. The design of the system was optimized with a hardware-centric approach to minimize costs, whilst providing reliability and high precision and accuracy. Based on embedded systems and capable of long-range communication through GSM/GPRS, the device operates with minimal human intervention, ensuring timely data availability for analysis and decision-making. The multisensor instrument determines four important water quality parameters: pH, conductivity, temperature, and water level. Calibration and sensitivity analyses were performed; 1000 measurements per sensor indicated distributions consistent with normality for pH, conductivity, and water level. The results demonstrated high performance in pH measurements (mean: 5.65 on the Sørensen scale, R² = 0.9992, expanded uncertainty: ±0.4), conductivity (R² = 0.9999, expanded uncertainties: ±56.52 to ±3200.00 µS/cm for various standards), and water level (R² = 0.9952, expanded uncertainty: ±5.2 cm). Capable of providing continuous, accurate data at low cost, this multiparameter probe has broad applicability in environmental regulation compliance, pollution control, and sustainable ecosystem management.