The public's growing awareness of the impact of the environment on our quality of life is making topics such as water pollution increasingly important to many of us. As the 2022 environmental catastrophe on the Oder River showed, preventive measures taken too late can bring huge losses not only to the river itself and its ecosystem, but also to other water bodies connected to it.
Prevention and monitoring thanks to the solution used in the project implemented by UMW's SmartCity department
The city's introduction of a solution to remotely monitor water purity parameters in the Oder River is aimed at preventing such situations in the future. Constant monitoring of water parameters such as suspended solids, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, pH, temperature, nitrates and chlorides will allow rapid detection of alarming changes in water quality. This will make it possible to take immediate preventive action before degradation of the water environment occurs.
- Wroclaw is not only a city of meetings, it is also a city of a hundred bridges. For its residents, water has always been a very important part of life. And today its quality is even more important, which is why Wrocław, which is developing towards the idea of Smart City, has set its sights on an innovative solution - remote monitoring of water purity parameters in the Oder River.
Jacek Sutryk, Mayor of Wroclaw
Using the latest IoT technologies
A water analytical buoy was launched near the Lech and Maria Kaczynski Boulevard during the Oder Days in 2023. The device and its accompanying app were tested for more than three months.
- Remote and real-time delivery of key information on the state of the river's water helped city services monitor its condition in real time. In addition, as part of the research project, the data collected by the device was compared with data provided to the city from laboratories sampling the Oder River. The measurement results from both sources were the same, explains Robert Bednarski, SmartCity director at the Wroclaw City Hall.
As part of the implementation project, from July 25, 2024, water analytical buoys will test water purity parameters at two locations on the Oder River, which will contribute to even more accurate analysis of the data provided and to a more effective response in the event of a threat of another environmental disaster.
- Our advanced analytical buoys allow us to monitor key water quality parameters in real time, which is essential to respond quickly to any threat. By using the latest IoT technologies, we can provide real-time data, which significantly increases the effectiveness of prevention and protection efforts," said Piotr Biały, Smart City & IoT Market Sales Director of T-Mobile Business Solutions.
For the first week, the buoys will be calibrated, then the data from them will be transmitted hourly in real time to a special counting platform. After that, they will be made available to Wroclaw residents on Wroclaw.pl. All indicators will be presented on an easy-to-understand color scale. This will allow everyone to check the level of salinity, pH, or oxygenation of the water in real time.
