{"id":93227,"date":"2019-03-22T08:58:57","date_gmt":"2019-03-22T18:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=93227"},"modified":"2019-04-02T11:20:56","modified_gmt":"2019-04-02T21:20:56","slug":"drop-revolutionize-well-water-monitoring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2019\/03\/22\/drop-revolutionize-well-water-monitoring\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> student-developed sensor could revolutionize well-water monitoring"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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From left, Jie Zhou and Tamra Oyama<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Students in the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa College of Engineering<\/a> have developed a small, four-sensor, solar-powered device that could transform well-water monitoring throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Tamra Oyama<\/strong>, a graduate scholar and graduate engineering student in the ʻIke<\/span> Wai project<\/a> is leading the effort to develop the Downwell Remote Operating Platform (DROP<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n

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DROP module chassis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“The DROP<\/abbr> module has potential to be a useful tool for well owners to monitor their water and track trends. It can be used as an alert system when the DROP<\/abbr> module detects an abnormality and can prompt a quick water test in the lab,” said Oyama. “Additionally, since the DROP<\/abbr> module is robust and low-cost, it can be adapted to different environments such as rivers or reservoirs.”<\/p>\n

By cost-effectively measuring four critical aspects of water quality\u2013temperature, flow direction, salinity and biocontaminants\u2013the DROP<\/abbr> module provides a rapid, simple and environmentally sustainable way to remotely and wirelessly monitor well water within the islands. Currently, the DROP<\/abbr> module is being tested in its prototype phase in wells at the Natural Energy Laboratory on Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island. Long-term goals are to expand the DROP<\/abbr> module\u2019s use to the other islands and beyond.<\/p>\n

ʻIke<\/span> Wai<\/h2>\n

ʻIke<\/span> Wai, funded by National Science Foundation\u2019s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR<\/abbr>), seeks to better understand Â鶹´«Ã½ʻs<\/span> aquifers. The information collected from the DROP<\/abbr> sensors helps the project\u2019s researchers and community members with valuable data for decision-making.<\/p>\n

Working with David Garmire<\/strong>, ʻIke<\/span> Wai researcher and associate professor of electrical engineering at UH<\/abbr> Mānoa, Oyama joined the project in fall 2017 when she worked on one of the device\u2019s sensors as an undergraduate.<\/p>\n

Assisted by fellow engineering graduate student Jie Zhou<\/strong>, Oyama oversees DROP<\/abbr> module development in the UH<\/abbr> Mānoa Fabrication Lab (FabLab<\/abbr>), where more than 15 undergraduates work cooperatively within the lab space. The FabLab<\/abbr> provides a collaborative learning environment for students to create, design and fabricate sensor modules and other engineering projects using 3D printers and other advanced technologies.<\/p>\n

Reducing water monitoring costs<\/h2>\n

Oyama sees her team\u2019s efforts and hard work benefiting Â鶹´«Ã½\u2019s<\/span> long-term water future. With the low-cost, self-sustaining water DROP<\/abbr> monitoring system, she and her team hope to reduce costs and the need for manual labor, so that well-water monitoring will become safer, more accessible and easier to conduct.<\/p>\n

“The DROP<\/abbr> module\u2019s ability to cost-effectively monitor water quality will give scientists and the general public knowledge of our water like never before,” said Zhou.<\/p>\n

Oyama and Zhou stress that the device can be upgraded easily, so other water quality indicators could be added on later, as needed. During its development, a new way to make electronic printed circuit boards using 3D printers was discovered, and Oyama will be publishing a paper on those findings.<\/p>\n

This work was supported by National Science Foundation EPSCoR<\/abbr> funded project (award #1557349). <\/p>\n

—By Anne Wallace<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By cost-effectively measuring four critical aspects of water quality\u2013temperature, flow direction, salinity and biocontaminants\u2013the DROP module provides a way to remotely monitor well water within the islands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[179,182,1363,73,9,1043],"class_list":["post-93227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-college-of-engineering","tag-engineering","tag-manoa-research","tag-sustainability","tag-uh-manoa","tag-water","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93227"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93272,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93227\/revisions\/93272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}