Acta Polytechnica Hungarica Vol. 18, No.

10, 2021

IoT and Wireless Sensor Networking-based

Effluent Treatment Plant Monitoring System

Md. Saikat Islam Khan1,2, Anichur Rahman1,2, Sifatul Islam1,2,

Mostofa Kamal Nasir1, Shahab S. Band3,∗, Amir Mosavi4,∗
1
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Mawlana Bhashani Science
and Technology University, Tangail 1902, Bangladesh, [email protected]
2
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, National Institute of Textile
Engineering and Research (NITER), Constituent Institute of the University of
Dhaka, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, {anis_cse, b.khan_cse, and s.islam_cse}
@niter.edu.bd
3
Future Technology Research Center, College of Future, National Yunlin
University of Science and Technology, 123 University Road, Section 3, Douliou,
Yunlin 64002, Taiwan; [email protected]
4
John von Neumann Faculty of Informatics, Óbuda University, Bécsi út 96/b,
1034 Budapest, Hungary, [email protected]

Abstract: Contaminated water became a major issue for our country over the last few
decades. One of the main reasons behind this scenario is urbanization and industrialization.
Every industry should have an Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) for treating industrial
wastewater and safe disposal to the environment. We implement a system that monitors
whether an industry uses ETP or not. To monitor ETP, we need to monitor the untreated
wastewater quality. The traditional way offers us a method that is time-consuming and
inefficient. To solve this problem, we adopt a model based on Wireless Sensor Networking
(WSN), which allows us to keep track of the water quality parameters in real-time. This paper
proposes a water quality monitoring system that uses WSN and Internet of Things (IoT) based
devices to monitor different parameters of water: temperature by a temperature sensor,
turbidity by a turbidity sensor, and pH by a pH sensor. Moreover, the microcontroller of
Arduino Uno R3 collects the parameter values from these sensors and transmits the values
to the IoT based cloud server using the GSM module. The GSM module is also used to alert
the supervisors by sending SMS in case of an emergency. Integrating modules such as
sensors, Arduino Uno R3, GSM module, enhances the purpose of the desired system. Finally,
we calculate the Water Quality Index (WQI) for the pH and turbidity data to report the water
quality status. Also, we compare the WQI status with our cloud status, and it shows excellent
performance.

Keywords: water quality; wireless sensor networking; IoT; smart sensor; GSM module;
Real-time; plant monitoring; artificial intelligence

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1 Introduction
Water is one of the most vital assets for humankind. Without water, no plants or
animals on earth would survive. The industry has been growing every year on the
back of spiraling demand from domestic and export markets. But because of the
growing rate of industry in developing countries like Bangladesh, water is
constantly being polluted. Water is mostly being polluted because of the industries
discharging untreated waste and effluent into the rivers and cannels. Water related
diseases cause 3.4 million deaths each year across the globe, according to WHO
Water Day Report. Defiled water is also responsible for the degradation of
agricultural land, soil fertility loss, and increases pressure on groundwater. About
200 rivers of Bangladesh directly or obliquely received a large amount of untreated
industrial wastes. The World Bank claimed that in Bangladesh, approximately $6.5
billion losses due to untreated water, which is 3.4% of the GDP in 2015. There are
many factories and industries in our country. According to a Bangladeshi daily
newspaper (The daily star), the textile industry will be discharging 203 billion liters
of polluted water into the river’s water every year from 2021. ETP is one of the best
solutions to sanctify untreated water discharged by industries and factories.
According to The Daily Star, currently, 5000 ETPs are initiated in factories and
industries, which cover approximately 70% of the textile units [1]. It also said that
Bangladesh has around 1,200 weaving mills, 5,000 export-oriented dyeing
factories, and 450 spinning mills.
We will monitor the quality of water on the industrial water discharged site.
To ensure whether the water is contaminated or not, we need real-time data analysis
because the sample is continuously changing. If we want to monitor this water
through the lab, then the cost will be high, and efficiency will be lower. In modern
times, the wireless sensor network is used in many sectors. Wireless sensor
networks have received considerable attention not only in environmental sectors but
also in industrial sectors [2-6]. WSN provides a massive advantage on cost because
the installation and maintenance expenses are low, and the device that we use is
cheaper, which required no writing [7-11]. That’s why environmental and industrial
monitoring largely depends on WSN technology [12-14]. We can apply this
technology in water quality monitoring, which will provide us with the best
approach to real-time data acquisition, processing, and transmission. In this paper,
we proposed a complete WSN water quality monitoring system that will allow us
to monitor the ETP. This system consists of a set of sensors such as pH, temperature,
turbidity, an Arduino Uno R3 microcontroller, GSM module, IoT based cloud
server (Thingspeak). This system measures different parameters of water, such as
pH, temperature, and turbidity. In the results and discussion section, we proved that
the system has a great prospect in industrial ETP plant monitoring. In this paper,
Section 2 discusses the literature survey on surveying water quality. Then, Section
3 illustrates the method we have implemented. After that, our data collection
procedure is in Section 4. Section 5 discusses the results obtained through this
system and finally, Section 6 brings a conclusion.

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2 Literature Survey
In this paper, our fundamental goal is to monitor the effluent treatment plant in real-
time using a wireless sensor network. So, our primary concern is to examine water
to determine the water quality parameters such as pH, temperature, and turbidity.
The following papers proposed various methods to check the quality of water.
This study delineated an efficient IoT-based system for measuring water quality by
determining temperature, pH, turbidity, and water level [15]. Here, the data is
transmitted to a webpage using GPS and GPRS modules. Another work proposed
an intelligent sensor interface for industrial WSN in the IoT environment.
They monitored water purity in the pond using a light intensity sensor, digital
temperature sensor, turbidity sensor by distributing multiple nodes in different
areas. They utilized ZigBee wireless communication, a short communication
method, for communication purposes [16]. Further, this paper claimed a cost-
effective, low-power transmission system for water quality monitoring in lakes
around ANNABA reagent. They considered different parameters such as pH,
conductivity, temperature, oxygen concentration, measured by other Arduino-based
sensors. The authors suggested a personal computer (PC) as a base station and
developed a GUI using MatLab software for visualizing data [17]. This study
described an automated agricultural monitoring system (iAgriMon) that uses a
hybrid IoT and WSN architecture to monitor temperature and humidity parameters
in a greenhouse setting [18]. For improving agricultural ecosystems, a web portal is
used to analyze the obtained data. In addition, the researchers propose an intelligent
irrigation control system that uses wireless sensor networks, a customized server,
and a Wemos D1 small (as the main microcontroller) [19]. They applied the T-test
statistical tool to see if the results are acceptable. They also compared their method
to the traditional approaches, where results suggested that the proposed method
outperformed all the other methods. This research described a system that employs
WSN technology in the IoT platform for water resource irrigation and proper water
resource usage in Precision Agricultural Farming (PAF) [20]. According to IoT-
based applications, these studies presented the novel framework based on leading
technologies such as Blockchain, Software-defined networks to innovative fields
through IoT platforms [21, 22]. Another research claimed that throughput
maximization, latency reduction, a high signal-to-noise ratio, a low mean square
error, and increased coverage area promote communication between different IoT
sensors. They showed that their outcomes outperform traditional IoT-based farming
methods [23]. In similar work, Temperature, dissolved oxygen, and pH are
measured by the system, which sends the data to a cloud internet platform via a
router gateway and can be tracked by smart devices in real-time. This studied
offered an upgraded WSN that applies a proposed algorithm in a tomato-growing
greenhouse [24]. They monitored Temperature, humidity, Carbon Monoxide,
Carbon dioxide, and light intensity and let users set minimum and maximum
setpoints and time and date-based irrigation management. They focused on tomato
crop yield has grown by 30%, while Methane Gas, water, and electricity use have

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lowered by 30%, 24%, and 10%, respectively, compared to the conventional

method. This research examined an innovative agricultural system based on a WSN
and IoT with numerous goals, including implementing a real-time approach to
reduce data loss when transmitting and receiving signals and improving the
automation system [25]. Furthermore, this research suggested a clustering
methodology based on a fuzzy method used in agriculture to increase node density
and coverage area and optimize data link and energy consumption.
They demonstrated that the strategy is realistic through simulation because it
outperforms scalable conditions in the dead final node and half of the node dead
[26]. Again, this study deliberated a wireless sensor-based approach named cluster
head selection process into the IoT network [27]. They applied the clustering
process with low energy consumption to manage the sensor data over the desired
IoT network [28]. Furthermore, this paper proposed a system to inspect the quality
of water of Lake Victoria Basin (LVB) in real-time by checking water temperature,
dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, and electrical conductivity in real-time, using an RF
transceiver and GPS receiver for transmitting data in real-time [29]. Similarly, this
study proposed a real-time water quality monitoring system for the River Nile by
measuring pH, turbidity, and Temperature. They show a prototype that includes a
temperature sensor, pH sensor, turbidity sensor, Raspberry Pi, some communication
technologies, a dynamic website, and a mobile application for visualization [30].
Additionally, it provided a Water Quality Monitoring System, which uses a
turbidity sensor, pH sensor, temperature sensor, and DO sensor integrated into an
Arduino Uno board. For transmitting and receiving values, they considered the
LoRa module, which uses the LoRa WAN protocol. They visualized their resulting
data on the Thing Speak IoT platform [31]. Their work is based on three
fundamental blocks: the water quality monitoring stations, the GPRS data
transmission modem, and the monitoring station. They employed an A/D converter
to convert the analog signal into a digital signal. To read digital data, they use IPC.
The data is sent through the GPRS modem to the monitoring station for analysis
purposes [32]. Another research [33], a WQM system in which the sensor nodes are
placed within the riverbed and data is transmitted to the base station using GPRS.
They allow Raspberry Pi over the SPI interface for interfacing ADC. For enhancing
efficiency, they use a one-wire communication protocol in temperature sensors.
Moreover, a water quality monitoring process uses an uncrewed aerial vehicle
(UAV) robot, which used four propellers. This UAV robot is made of an ATMega
2560 microcontroller, a temperature sensor, a ph sensor, a water turbidity sensor, a
GPS sensor, a dissolved oxygen sensor, a 3DR radio telemetry transmitter.
They developed a GUI at the base station for visualizing the performance of
different parameter values of water [34]. Similar work, a system that uses a pH
sensing module, Arduino UNO Board, Temperature Sensing Module, and RF
Module. They presented Arduino Ethernet Shield as IoT Module, which pushes data
to cloud storage. An Android OS platform-based mobile application was developed,
which shows the latest Ph value, temperature, and time stamp. A GUI is also
extended to show the graphical interpretation of those data for visualizing.

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Finally, they compared the proposed system result with a standalone RFID system
[35]. In addition, they considered a sum throughput technique to present the joint
maximization of energy harvest and information transmission rate where wireless
information and power transfer are used to harvest the energy from radio frequency
sources [36]. Similarly, they propose an online monitoring water quality system
using WSN in Indonesia [37]. They evaluated water quality using Zigbee wireless
communication. The pH and turbidity sensors determine whether water quality is
good or bad [38]. They observed flood and water quality using IoT. They combined
various sensors such as weather monitoring, soil moisture monitoring, and fire
alarm to implement their method [39]. They projected an intelligent water quality
monitoring system to prevent the contamination of the water. They build a
monitoring center where data is analyzed. For data transmission, they used the
GPRS method [40]. Furthermore, they planned a low-cost and real-time water
quality monitoring system used in remote lakes, rivers, and other water bodies.
They proceeded with DO and pH sensors and developed a mobile application to
check the system efficiency [41]. On the other hand, these studies focused on
machine learning and deep learning methods to classify water quality conditions.
They also calculated the water quality index from various sensors [42, 43, 44, 45].

3 Materials and Methods

Wireless sensor networking is used to collect data about various applications, for
example, residential security, surveillance, and ocean monitoring. The IoT
motivates the rapid advancement of modern wireless telecommunication and is
expected to bring avails to a legionary number of application areas, including the
industrial WSN systems. The proposed system, “IoT and WSN based Effluent
Treatment Plant Monitoring System,” performs real-time water quality monitoring.
This section represents the structure of WSN and IoT with their corresponding
equipment. This system simply includes WSN sensor nodes, Microcontroller, and
IoT platforms. Figure 1 expresses the simple way to monitor the water quality,
where the wireless sensors module sent the data to the microcontroller module, and
the microcontroller module sent the data to the central server.

Figure 1
Basic Diagram for Water Quality Monitoring System

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3.1 WSN Sensor Node

The sensor node plays the main role in our proposed WSN system. It is sorted with
four sensors and microcontroller units. In this system, four sensors measure pH,
temperature, turbidity, and flow, which determine the general characteristics of
water. However, this method allows using more sensors depending on needs.
The pH, temperature, and turbidity sensors are interfaced with the Arduino mi-
crocontroller to measure the water quality parameter values. Figure 1 shows the
basic diagram of our proposed system, where Figure 2 shows the schematic diagram
of the sensor node unit of this system. The sensors are connected to the Arduino
Uno board to the correct pin, which ensures correct operation and gives the result
of a different parameter value of water correctly.

Figure 2
Real-Time Water Quality Monitoring System using WSN

3.1.1 pH Sensor
A pH sensor is a scientific device that is used to measure the hydrogen ion activity
in water. The pH sensor determines pH by measuring the voltage level or the
difference of the solution in which it is immersed. The logarithmic scale of pH starts
from 0 to 14. At level 7, we find the water source level is natural. When the level is
less than seven, then the water has acidic solutions, and if the level is greater than
seven, then the water has alkaline solutions. A pH sensor got two electrodes, which
are the measuring electrode and the reference electrode. The positive end of the
battery is paired with a measuring electrode, and a negative end is paired with a
reference electrode. The reference electrode will not be changed because it always
provides a fixed voltage when the pH meter is dipped into the solutions.
The measuring electrode provides voltage and sensitivity to the hydrogen ion. If the
temperature changes, then the differential voltage of the electrode also
changes.Therefore, we need a temperature sensor.

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3.1.2 Turbidity Sensor

The turbidity sensor is the measurement of water transparency. It is used to measure
total suspend solids (TSS) in water by sending the light beam into the water body.
This light will then fling by any suspended particles such as soil, silts, clay, which
enter the water and affect the water body. A light detector is used to measure the
amount of light that is being reflected back at it. Turbidity is measured in
Nephelometric Turbidity Units, which is known as NTU. Turbidity values from the
turbidity sensor can be higher or lower. Higher turbidity means there are lots of
suspended solids in the water, and light cannot pass through it, which means the
water is impure. Lower turbidity means the water is pure because there are fewer
suspended solids in the water, and light can easily pass through it.

3.1.3 Temperature Sensor

Temperature is measured through an electrical signal in the temperature sensor.
As the voltage differences of electrodes change with temperature, a temperature
sensor is needed. The correction for changing in voltage can also be done by this
sensor. It requires RTD (Resistance Temperature Detectors) and a thermocouple.
The RTD is a variable resistance that will change the electrical resistance indi-rectly
proportional to the change in the temperature in a linear manner where the
thermocouple is made by two dissimilar metals which are used to generate the
electrical voltage indirectly proportional to the change in the temperature. For pure
water temperature value is 27 degrees Celsius. Table 1 represents the pH,
temperature, and turbidity value and shows in which condition water is pure or
polluted. The general guideline of pH, temperature and turbidity value in pure water
is suggested by WHO [46].
Table 1
WSN PARAMETERS VALUE

Parameter Treated Water Polluted Water

pH 6.5-8.5 <6.5 and >8.5
Temperature 20-35 °C <20 °C and >35 °C
Turbidity <10 NTU >0 NTU

3.1.4 Flow Meter

Flow meters measure how much water has gone across it. There are different types
of flow meters. Among them, Krohne’s electromagnetic flowmeters can be used to
measure both flow volume and flow rate. This flow meter consists of the sensor and
converter where the sensor consists of measuring tubes, poles, induction coils, iron
core, and shell. It works on the principle of Faraday’s law of electromagnetic
induction. Here, digital pulses act as flow volume and can be paired with a
microcontroller using a digital I/O pin. We can set 2 flow meters in our proposed
system. One in the discharging point of ETP and the other in the discharging point

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of the water tank. Then, we will compare the total amount of water passed through
them. If their volume is significantly different, then an emergency SMS can be sent
to the base station.

3.2 Microcontroller Module

Arduino Uno R3 isused as a microcontroller module for this system, which includes
a microcontroller and a C program that determines the behavior of the WSN sensor
node. Arduino Uno R3 Microcontroller is a free platform that is flexible, convenient
hardware, and easy operable software which is used to acquire sensor data. Arduino
Uno Board will analyze and process the data and send it to the server. Whenever
the pH value goes beyond the 6-8.5 range, Arduino will send an SMS to the
authority via the GSM module. Similarly, whenever turbidity value goes beyond
the range, as shown in Table 3, the GSM module will send a message about the
status of the water quality to the authority.

3.3 SIM900 GSM-GPRS Module

A GSM or GPRS module is a circuit or chip which is used to establish
communication between a mobile device or a computer with a GSM or GPRS
system. To send the sensors data from the Arduino to the pc, we need a GSM
module that is compatible with the Arduino. It allows sending SMS via UART using
AT commands. We can create a send SMS() function in the Arduino
microcontroller board by using AT commands. This function uses the AT com-
mands such as AT+CMGF=1 ̊and AT +CMGS to send the SMS. A SIM-CARD is
attached to the module and is used to send the message to the authority. This module
can connect to the internet over the GPRS network. GPRS network provides
moderate-speed data transfer using unused time division multiple access (TDMA).
SIM900 GSM-GPRS module can transfer sensors data from the Arduino to the IoT
cloud server platform using HTTP POST-GET request.

3.4 IoT Platform

An IoT platform is a technology which got more than one layer. It communicates
data between a hardware device and cloud storage [47]. Currently, the IoT platform
gives users a built-in feature, which makes it easy to create program applications
for connected hardware devices, and it also takes care of cross-device compatibility,
data security, and scalability. Key technologies that are related to the IoT are sensor
node technologies, including wireless sensor networks, miniaturization, and nano-
technology. As IoT is related too many wireless sensor devices, it produces a large
number of data, which is also processed by IoT. Basically, IoT consists of three
layers 1) Application layer 2) Network layer 3) Perception layer [48]. The data
acquisition interface is designed by the perception layer of IoT, which includes
sensors, cameras, RFID readers, and various data collection terminals. The data

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acquisition interface plays a vital role in the collaboration and integration of

environments and for collecting the sensor’s data. Effluent Treatment Plant can be
monitored by the water quality monitoring method. Water quality monitoring is one
of the major IoT application fields because it adopts sensors to determine the water
quality factor value and detect pollution. That collection of sensors data can be
transmitted to the IoT cloud server using the GSM module.

3.4.1 Thingspeak
There are so many IoT platforms that we can use to store, process, and analyze the
sensor’s data. Some of the IoT platforms are Microsoft Azure IoT,Amazon Web
Service or AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Thingspeak, Thingworx, Cisco to IoT
CloudConnect, etc. Among them for our method, we use the Thingspeak cloud
server, which is an open data platform and API for the IoT, which will help you to
store, collect, process, analyze and act on data from sensors. It is also user-friendly
and provides data security and free access to the cloud. The sensor node will send
data to the cloud to store in the channel of Thingspeak. Thingspeak channel supports
eight channels in which we use three channels, such as pH, Temperature, and
turbidity. Through this process, we can analyze, visualized, and calculate new data
and also interact with social media. The data are coming from the sensors organized
in the cloud in the form of plots, charts, graphs using analytical tools online.
Thingspeak also provides access to MATLAB to provide sensor data. One can react
both in new data and the raw data in each channel and also can help the devices to
execute by using the commands. Thingspeak cloud server can send the data to the
PC in an EXCEL form which is real-time. The collection of the sensor data in real-
time is shown in the data collection section.

3.5 WSN Power Supply

In the WSN system, sensor nodes are situated at a remote distance. So the power
supply becomes a major issue here. There are many methods to power the sensor
node. Using a battery is one of them. But the battery energy is limited, and replacing
batteries is not easy. Different energy harvesting methods like solar panels can be
used to recharge the battery. This system uses a 3.7 V 6 AH rechargeable polymer-
lithium-ion battery, which is used to power the sensor nodes. This battery has a
longer lifespan and also has an excellent self-discharge rate. We will use a solar
panel in the future to recharge the battery so that it can save battery power.

3.6 WQI Calculation

A detailed method of WQI calculation can be found [49], but a brief discussion of
this method can be found here. To evaluate water quality, we use the scale, which
is proposed by Ramakrishnaiah et al. [50] that is shown in Table 2.

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Table 2
Water quality scale based on WQI

Water Quality Class WQI value

Excellent <50
Good 50-100
Poor 100-200
Very poor 200-300
Unsuitable >300

WQI can be calculated using the following equation (Brown et al. 1970) [51]
𝑊𝑄𝐼 = ∑𝑛𝑗=1 𝑤𝑖𝑞𝑖
∑ 𝑤𝑖 (1)

Where, wi=unit weight of jth water quality parameters, qi= Quality rating for the
jth parameters.
For calculating the WQI, four steps are required.
Step 1: We have selected two variables pH and turbidity for calculating the WQI.
We use the standard value of the water quality recommended by WHO [46].
Step 2: Quality rating(qi) can be calculated using the following Equation 2.
(Va−Vi)
qi = ×100 (2)
(Vs−Vi)

Where, qi =Quality rating for the jth water quality parameters, Va : The monitored
value of the (jth) parameterat a given sampling station, Vi : ideal value for the jth
parameters. For pH, the ideal values is 7.0 and for the turbidity variable the ideal
value is 0, Vs : the standard value of jth parameters.
Step 3: Unit weight (wi) can be calculated using the following Equation 3.
𝐾
𝑤= (3)
𝑆𝑖

Where, w : unit weight for the jth water quality parameters, Si : standards value for
the jth water quality parameters, K: relative constant.
Step 4: The calculated WQI values are classified into five groups. Good water
quality is given a low range, and bad water quality is given high range of WQI
value.

4 Results Analysis
In this section, we show how we collect sensors data from our experiment. We also
show a hardware simulation of how the temperature, pH and turbidity sensors are
connected to the Arduino Uno R3 board. For collecting the data from the sensor

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node, we use a Thingspeak IoT cloud server. The addition of the GSM module
allows the system to be more robust and flexible. GSM module allows the sensors
to send data to the IoT cloud server. The data collection procedure is shown in
Figure 3.

Figure 3
Data Collection Procedure

The optimum pH range for treated and untreated water are shown in Table 1.
IoT cloud server will send the data to the corresponding PC in real-time, which is
shown in Table 3. Table 3 shows the CSV file generated by the Thingspeak server
once data from the GSM module is retrieved. Because of the Thingspeak server-
internal mechanisms, the header of this CSV file is fixed to field1, field2, and field3.

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Here, field 1 indicates pH (ranges from 0 to 14), field 2 indicates temperature (in
degrees Celsius), and field 3 indicates turbidity (in Nephelometric Turbidity Unit).
Table 3
Experiment Value

created_at entry_i field 1 field 2 field 3 status

2020-01-24 11:41:00 +06 1 9.242 26.095 0 Treated
2020-01-24 11:46:00 +06 2 9.344 25.73 0 Treated
2020-01-24 11:51:00 +06 3 9.444 26.277 0 Treated
2020-01-24 11:56:00 +06 4 9.648 25.182 0 Treated
2020-01-24 12:01:00 +06 5 9.545 25.73 0 Treated
2020-01-24 12:06:00 +06 6 9.495 25.365 0 Treated
2020-01-24 12:11:00 +06 7 9.091 25.182 0 Treated
2020-01-24 12:16:00 +06 8 8.99 24.818 445 Untreated
2020-01-24 12:21:00 +06 9 8.889 24.635 620 Untreated
2020-01-24 12:26:00 +06 10 8.485 24.635 1942 Untreated
2020-01-24 12:31:00 +06 11 7.929 24.635 3 Treated
2020-01-24 12:36:00 +06 12 8.232 24.453 1093 Untreated
2020-01-24 12:41:00 +06 13 8.737 24.635 2204 Untreated
2020-01-24 12:46:00 +06 14 8.737 39.599 3036 Untreated
2020-01-24 12:51:00 +06 15 8.333 43.613 3004 Untreated
2020-01-24 12:56:00 +06 16 7.727 28.102 0 Treated
2020-01-24 13:01:00 +06 17 9.293 25.365 1518 Untreated
2020-01-24 13:06:00 +06 18 9.404 24.635 0 Treated
2020-01-24 13:11:00 +06 19 9.646 24.635 1685 Untreated

From this Table, we show that data is coming to the PC in real-time. The graphical
representation of pH, temperature, and turbidity value is shown in the discussion
section. For hardware simulation, we use Fritzing software, which is used primarily
for performing schematic capture and allow us to simulate the circuit we design.
Using Fritzing software, we simulate how the LM35 temperature sensor, SEN0161
pH meter, and SEN0189 turbidity sensor sends data to the ArduinoUno R3 board.
The simulation process is shown in Figure 4. In the simulation process, we con-nect
the LM35 VCC pin to the +5V of the Arduino board. As the LM35 output pin
produces analog data, so this pin is connected to the ‘A1’ pin of the Arduino Uno
Board. This pin will allow receiving analog values from an exterior origin.
The other pinis paired with the GND of the Arduino Uno board. Since pH and
temperature sensors are also produced output as analog data, the pH sensor is
connected to the ’A0’ pin, and the turbidity sensor is connected to the ’A2’ pin of
the Arduino Uno Board. The other pin is connected to Arduino Uno as the LM35
temperature sensor is connected. We use a serial monitor from the Arduino IDE
software in PC, which is used for checking the values of temperature, pH, and
turbidity. The serial monitor looks like the LCD monitor, which is also used for

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showing the parameter values. The calculated WQI values for some of the sample
data are shown in Table 4. Comparing the result with our cloud status, it shows an
excellent result.

Figure 4
Hardware Simulation Process of Sensors

Although some of the cases can cause problems such as when the cloud server
reports that the water quality is treated, but after calculating the WQI, we find that
the quality of the water is very poor.
Table 4
WQI values for sample data

pH Turbidity WQI Status

9.242 0 224 Very Poor
7.929 3 106 Poor
8.99 445 2177 Unsuitable
8.485 1942 8780 Unsuitable
7.727 0 73 Good
9.646 1685 7753 Unsuitable

5 Discussion
The proposed method can be implemented in the industry to check water quality in
real-time. The results of the method are analyzed and discussed in the context of
each scenario. Wireless sensor nodes act as a major role in the whole proposed
system. Arduino Uno R3 collects the data from the sensor node. Here, we developed

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a program and uploaded it to the microcontroller, which allows the system to collect
data every 5 minutes. Once the data is calculated, the data is passed to the
Thingspeak IoT cloud server using a GSM-GPRS model. IoT cloud server will send
the data to the PC in real-time. The performance of the pH, temperature, and
turbidity sensor data in the Thingspeak IoT cloud server is shown in Figure 5, 6, 7,
which represents how data from the sensor node coming to the Thingspeak IoTcloud
server in real-time. Compare to the other methods used for water quality monitoring,
our method shows an excellent result and proved to be more effective. Here, our
fundamental goal was to monitor the ETP. To monitor the ETP, water quality
monitoring is also required. Most of the method used previously is based on just
water quality monitoring. In industry to monitor industry wastewater, it is
completely a different scenario. Here, we have to consider the environment and also
calculate the value in real-time, but most of the methods like paper [15], [16], [31],
they use light intensity sensor or turbidity sensor for water quality monitoring.
In our method, we use the turbidity sensor, which is more effective in the industry
and shows the exact result. Another method like paper [31] they use an ESP32 Wi-
Fi module to send the data to the IoT cloud server. For the wifi module, it requires
a router to get internet, which may not be possible in the industry. But in our
proposed system, we use a GSM module where a SIM-CARD is attached. We can
send data to the cloud using the GSM module easily. Thi IoT cloud server is
connected to the internet, which uploaded the data into the PC. Using the data, the
authority could easily monitor the quality of water. In our program, we also build
an emergency situation, when the water quality crosses the danger limit, an
emergency SMS will be sent to the corresponding mobile phone. The proposed
system gives authorities the ability to check water quality parameters at the
industrial water discharge site in real-time. Thus authority can easily monitor
whether a particular industry discharged water is polluted or not.

Figure 5
pH Data in Cloud

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Figure 6
Temperature Data in Cloud

Figure 7
Turbidity Data in Cloud

The status of the data is shown in the Figure 8.

Figure 8
Status

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I. Khan et al. IoT and Wireless Sensor Networking-based Effluent Treatment Plant Monitoring System

Conclusion
In this work, our goal was to monitor the Effluent Treatment Plant using a wireless
sensor network in real-time. This proposed system shows an approach for water
quality monitoring using a wireless sensor network, which is automated, cost-
effective, real-time, server-based, and more effective. We already demonstrated our
field test result with appropriate calibration, which proves that the system can
monitor water quality parameters tirelessly and send those data to the cloud server.
Current procedures that are used in Bangladesh are expensive, non-real-time, and
time-consuming. The problems that can affect our system are if the internet speed
is slow, then the system will take time to send data. In the future, we will use
machine learning to detect whether the water is clean or polluted. We will use more
advanced software for our simulation purpose.
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