Design and Analysis of Electrical Conductivity Sensor for Water Quality Management in Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Water quality management is essential for sustainable agriculture, environmental protection, and public health. Among various water quality parameters, electrical conductivity (EC) is a key indicator of dissolved ions and nutrient concentration, making it indispensable for irrigation management, fertigation, hydroponics, and water resource monitoring. This study presents the design and development of a low-cost Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled EC sensor for modern fertigation systems. Unlike many existing low-cost EC sensors that often suffer from poor accuracy and inconsistent performance, the proposed system is designed to provide accurate, reliable, and real-time water quality monitoring. The developed system integrates a total dissolved solids (TDS) and EC sensor probe, a DS18B20 temperature sensor for temperature compensation, an ESP32 microcontroller, electronic circuits and an IoT cloud platform for remote monitoring and data visualization. The sensor was experimentally validated using standard conductivity solutions and benchmarked against a commercial-grade Hanna Instruments EC meter. Experimental results demonstrate excellent agreement with the existing TDS product and reference instrument, producing accurate EC measurements and a strong correlation between TDS and EC values. The proposed IoT-enabled EC sensor provides a practical and cost-effective solution for continuous water quality monitoring in precision agriculture and environmental applications. Furthermore, this work supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by contributing to SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) through improved water quality monitoring, SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) through the use of IoT platform, and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) by providing potential efficient water and nutrient management for more sustainable agricultural practices.