In today's world, water scarcity is becoming a growing concern. With the world's population constantly increasing, the demand for diminishing water resources is also growing. The average American home's outdoor water use accounts for almost one-third of the total water used and this number rises significantly in the hotter and drier regions of the country. It is estimated that almost 9 billion gallons of water are being used daily for residential outdoor use, most of which can be accounted for by watering gardens and lawns. Around 50% of this water is wasted due to overwatering. This number effectively comes out to 1.65 trillion gallons of drinking water wasted each year. Higher efficiency watering methods need to be implemented to reduce these disturbing numbers.
Our plan of attack to help provide a solution to this unnecessary waste of water is a smart irrigation control system. Having an automated watering system that can trigger itself based on the moisture levels in the soil, has the potential to conserve lots of water. This system will have a runoff collection barrel that will allow water to filter and flow into the garden/flower bed by gravity or a low-powered pump. The timing and amount of water flowing through this system will be based on communication between various sensors and a microcontroller. The most important sensor is the moisture sensor placed in the soil of the garden. Once the moisture hits a certain threshold, the pump/electric valve will be triggered, and the garden will begin to be watered. The use of a couple of other sensors will be explored, such as a water level sensor inside of the collection barrel and an air temperature sensor that will monitor the heat in the desired area. The data will be able to be monitored from a monitor/mobile application. This entire system will be powered by a solar panel attached to the battery to help save energy in the process.