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The impact of agricultural activities on water quality: a case for collaborative catchment-scale management using integrated wireless sensor networks

The impact of agricultural activities on water quality: a case for collaborative catchment-scale management using integrated wireless sensor networks
The impact of agricultural activities on water quality: a case for collaborative catchment-scale management using integrated wireless sensor networks
The challenge of improving water quality is a growing global concern, typified by the European Commission Water Framework Directive and the United States Clean Water Act. The main drivers of poor water quality are economics, poor water management, agricultural practices and urban development. This paper reviews the extensive role of non-point sources, in particular the outdated agricultural practices, with respect to nutrient and contaminant contributions. Water quality monitoring (WQM) is currently undertaken through a number of data acquisition methods from grab sampling to satellite based remote sensing of water bodies. Based on the surveyed sampling methods and their numerous limitations, it is proposed that wireless sensor networks (WSNs), despite their own limitations, are still very attractive and effective for real-time spatio-temporal data collection for WQM applications. WSNs have been employed for WQM of surface and ground water and catchments, and have been fundamental in advancing the knowledge of contaminants trends through their high resolution observations. However, these applications have yet to explore the implementation and impact of this technology for management and control decisions, to minimize and prevent individual stakeholder’s contributions, in an autonomous and dynamic manner. Here, the potential of WSN-controlled agricultural activities and different environmental compartments for integrated water quality management is presented and limitations of WSN in agriculture and WQM are identified. Finally, a case for collaborative networks at catchment scale is proposed for enabling cooperation among individually networked activities/stakeholders (farming activities, water bodies) for integrated water quality monitoring, control and management.
wireless sensor networks, agricultural activities, water quality monitoring and management, catchment, collaborative
0168-1699
126-138
Zia, Huma
74118b4c-35ab-44e8-a44f-daa4cc6f83e8
Harris, Nick
237cfdbd-86e4-4025-869c-c85136f14dfd
Merrett, Geoff V.
89b3a696-41de-44c3-89aa-b0aa29f54020
Rivers, Mark
d77b505c-0318-4a77-bc88-a6fc38d38660
Coles, Neil
43139b7a-8e76-46e1-86c8-ad37a252955d
Zia, Huma
74118b4c-35ab-44e8-a44f-daa4cc6f83e8
Harris, Nick
237cfdbd-86e4-4025-869c-c85136f14dfd
Merrett, Geoff V.
89b3a696-41de-44c3-89aa-b0aa29f54020
Rivers, Mark
d77b505c-0318-4a77-bc88-a6fc38d38660
Coles, Neil
43139b7a-8e76-46e1-86c8-ad37a252955d

Zia, Huma, Harris, Nick, Merrett, Geoff V., Rivers, Mark and Coles, Neil (2013) The impact of agricultural activities on water quality: a case for collaborative catchment-scale management using integrated wireless sensor networks. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, (96), 126-138. (doi:10.1016/j.compag.2013.05.001).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The challenge of improving water quality is a growing global concern, typified by the European Commission Water Framework Directive and the United States Clean Water Act. The main drivers of poor water quality are economics, poor water management, agricultural practices and urban development. This paper reviews the extensive role of non-point sources, in particular the outdated agricultural practices, with respect to nutrient and contaminant contributions. Water quality monitoring (WQM) is currently undertaken through a number of data acquisition methods from grab sampling to satellite based remote sensing of water bodies. Based on the surveyed sampling methods and their numerous limitations, it is proposed that wireless sensor networks (WSNs), despite their own limitations, are still very attractive and effective for real-time spatio-temporal data collection for WQM applications. WSNs have been employed for WQM of surface and ground water and catchments, and have been fundamental in advancing the knowledge of contaminants trends through their high resolution observations. However, these applications have yet to explore the implementation and impact of this technology for management and control decisions, to minimize and prevent individual stakeholder’s contributions, in an autonomous and dynamic manner. Here, the potential of WSN-controlled agricultural activities and different environmental compartments for integrated water quality management is presented and limitations of WSN in agriculture and WQM are identified. Finally, a case for collaborative networks at catchment scale is proposed for enabling cooperation among individually networked activities/stakeholders (farming activities, water bodies) for integrated water quality monitoring, control and management.

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More information

Published date: 6 June 2013
Keywords: wireless sensor networks, agricultural activities, water quality monitoring and management, catchment, collaborative
Organisations: Electronics & Computer Science

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 352243
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/352243
ISSN: 0168-1699
PURE UUID: e1e74db5-d556-4cc4-99bb-1b826a5d6ea5
ORCID for Nick Harris: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4122-2219
ORCID for Geoff V. Merrett: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4980-3894

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 08 May 2013 11:13
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:23

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Contributors

Author: Huma Zia
Author: Nick Harris ORCID iD
Author: Geoff V. Merrett ORCID iD
Author: Mark Rivers
Author: Neil Coles

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