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This study presents the process of design and development of a low-cost turbidimeter for monitoring water quality, facilitating rigorous spatial-temporal variability analysis within large-scale hydrological systems. We propose a low-cost optical turbidimeter, modifying the existent SEN0189 turbidity sensor, Arduino boards, and additional sensors for temperature compensation. We compared a low-cost system with high-tech sensors, modifying the original low-cost SEN0189 probe for enhanced environmental performance. The three-step methodological framework involved prototype development, compensation for environmental factors, and preparation for future field deployment. Calibration equations with a high coefficient of determination and a temperature correction equation were established. We made adaptations to overcome field deployment challenges, including a 3-D printed sensor case, defining the relationship between measurement uncertainty and energy consumption, and specifying field installation guidelines. In summary, this study presents a comprehensive approach to a low-cost optical turbidity system, demonstrating its potential for accurate and affordable field deployment. We aim to address the critical need for sustainable inland water management tools, making this system a valuable contribution to environmental monitoring practices. We also aim to inspire similar development of open-source monitoring systems within our community., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

The use of low-cost sensors, with open-source code, facilitates greater spatial resolution and flexibility of environmental monitoring, thus generating more information and overcoming limitations of traditional commercial sensors. Measurement of water turbidity using submerged sensors can be problematic in that rapid biofouling requires frequent site visits to remove, clean, calibrate and replace the sensor. We therefore designed an automated system using low-cost commercially-available sensors that pumps water from the stream, samples it for turbidity and purges remaining water, leaving the turbidity sensor dry between measurements, thus greatly reducing the biofouling problem and minimizing operation costs. Our station was able to estimate suspended sediment concentrations between 0 and 6 g/L with a root mean square error (RMSE) around 5 % of the total range, which meets typical research and operational study requirements. The results showed that the monitoring station is capable of monitoring water level and turbidity for long periods without the need of cleaning the turbidity sensor, due to its purge function. We demonstrated that spatially intense measurement of turbidity within catchments and drainage networks can be achieved at a relatively low cost, which allows a better understanding of the main sources of suspended sediments and their spatial and temporal variability., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Author(s).)

Sound urban water management relies on extensive and reliable monitoring of water infrastructure. As low-cost sensors and networks have become increasingly available for environmental monitoring, urban water researchers and practitioners must consider the benefits and disadvantages of such technologies. In this perspective paper, we highlight six technical and socio-technological considerations for low-cost monitoring technology to reach its full potential in the field of urban water management, including: technical barriers to implementation, complementarity with traditional sensing technologies, low-cost sensor reliability, added value of produced information, opportunities to democratize data collection, and economic and environmental costs of the technology. For each consideration, we present recent experiences from our own work and broader literature and identify future research needs to address current challenges. Our experience supports the strong potential of low-cost monitoring technology, in particular that it promotes extensive and innovative monitoring of urban water infrastructure. Future efforts should focus on more systematic documenting of experiences to lower barriers to designing, implementing, and testing of low-cost sensor networks, and on assessing the economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits of low-cost sensor deployments., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Perrine Hamel and Frederic Cherqui reports financial support was provided by MERLION (French embassy in Singapore and Nanyang Technological University). Perrine Hamel reports financial support was provided by Singapore National Research Foundation. Frederic Cherqui and Jean-Luc Bertrand-Krajewski reports financial support was provided by Rhône-Méditerranée-Corse Water Agency. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Author(s).)

The large-scale deployment of low-cost monitoring systems has the potential to revolutionize the field of urban hydrology monitoring, bringing improved urban management, and a better living environment. Even though low-cost sensors emerged a few decades ago, versatile and cheap electronics like Arduino could give stormwater researchers a new opportunity to build their own monitoring systems to support their work. To find out sensors which are ready for low-cost stormwater monitoring systems, for the first time, we review the performance assessments of low-cost sensors for monitoring air humidity, wind speed, solar radiation, rainfall, water level, water flow, soil moisture, water pH, conductivity, turbidity, nitrogen, and phosphorus in a unified metrological framework considering numerous parameters. In general, as these low-cost sensors are not initially designed for scientific monitoring, there is extra work to make them suitable for in situ monitoring, to calibrate them, to validate their performance, and to connect them with open-source hardware for data transmission. We, therefore, call for international cooperation to develop uniform low-cost sensor production, interface, performance, calibration and system design, installation, and data validation guides which will greatly regulate and facilitate the sharing of experience and knowledge.

This paper aims to develop a methodology to support the sustainable management of Urban Drainage Systems (UDSs) in Algeria. This research is motivated by the various difficulties that the National Sanitation Office (ONA) has in managing this complex infrastructure. The method mainly consists of two approaches: the top-down approach and the bottom-up approach. The former facilitates the identification of factors related to a sustainable UDS, the development priorities and the criteria available to managers. The latter assesses UDS performance using the weighted sum method to aggregate indicators or criteria weighted using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The method is demonstrated through its application to the UDS in the city of Jijel, Algeria., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)