Living Water - Manga-o-tama catchment water monitoring with IoT

Living Water – Manga-o-tama catchment water monitoring

Living Water Waikato has partnered with Spark NZ and Environmental IoT specialist, Adroit to create an innovative water monitoring solution for an important catchment in the Waikato region.

Hear key stakeholders discuss the project in this video, including Fonterra Group Director, Farm Source, Richard Allen; DOC Operations Director, Dan Heinrich (Te Āti Awa); Spark Technology Evolution Tribe Lead, Renee Matapere; and Farmer, Brad Hancock, along with Adroit’s own Blair Stewart and Guy Macpherson.

Living Water is a partnership between the Department of Conservation and Fonterra, created to design and test solutions to improve freshwater quality. With all parties having access to the same data, it will be easier to make evidence based decisions on interventions and land-use changes. Named after a key stream in the heart of the region, the Manga-o-tama project takes a catchment-wide approach to improving water quality. The project sees Iwi and a range of stakeholders including farmers, community groups, council and NZ Landcare Trust, all working together to restore unique peat ecosystems in the region. This is being achieved by enhancing habitat around the lake margins, and transforming agricultural drains into healthy waterways.
Adroit designed and installed monitoring stations

Water catchment areas are fragile ecological environments that can be severely impacted by high levels of nutrients, sediment, effluent and other contaminants. As there are already 38 farms potentially impacting the catchment, it was seen as essential to establish real time water quality monitoring in the catchment to allow participants to see how their efforts contribute to this bigger restoration vision.

So, for the project, Adroit designed and installed monitoring stations to provide accurate water quality data, measuring and reporting water quality parameters in real-time, such as Nitrates (NO3), sediment (including turbidity and total suspended solids), dissolved oxygen, temperature, conductivity and pH.

Data from the sensors is transferred to the Adroit Platform via the Spark CatM1 network, with results being shared, allowing all stakeholders and local community the opportunity to participate in the project.

New iot automated approach to monitoring
This new automated approach to monitoring could be a real game-changer for our farmers and the community, connecting them to what is happening in their environment on a daily basis. This is compared to previously only having long-term, high-level regional data that might not relate to their catchment.
water quality stakeholders including farmers, community groups, council and NZ Landcare Trust

Adroit Environmental Monitoring Solutions

As an end to end solution provider, Adroit supplied the device hardware, IoT connectivity, nationwide installation, maintenance, and ongoing support.

Adroit has proven solutions, not just for construction, but for all environmental monitoring applications, including waterway and water catchment monitoring, agriculture and aquaculture water quality monitoring, workplace environmental monitoring, and solutions for urban and regional environmental monitoring.

Water Monitoring Solutions
Contact an Adroit Specialist