Underwater Optical Network for Remote Sensing Applications in Fluvial Environments

Water distribution networks can be exposed to inadvertent contamination which could cause serious disturbance in the water quality. Such unfavourable events threat the human and aquatic health. Water utilities are concerned by the control of water quality. Conventional water quality control methods hinge on laboratory analyses and take several days but to prevent water quality degradation, a real-time monitoring is required. In this paper, a round-the-clock water quality monitoring system is demonstrated using an all-inclusive instrumentation package and data transmission connected by an underwater optical network. The system comprises a portable, water quality data logging instrument built to measure and transmit the river water quality parameters such as: water temperature, barometric pressure, pH, ORP, turbidity, barometric pressure and conductivity. These data evaluate water quality identifying potential contaminants. In a first stage, different measurements were made in a controlled laboratory environment. On-the-field demonstration was carried out in a large irrigation canal (Pedralba, Valencia) in the fluvial environment of the Turia River connecting multi-parametric probes through 9 km of optical fiber.