International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET)

Volume 9, Issue 2, February 2018, pp. 389–397, Article ID: IJMET_09_02_040

Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=9&IType=2
ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

SEWAGE LEVEL MAINTENANCE USING IOT

B. Sumathy
Assistant professor, Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering,
Sri Sai Ram Engineering College, Chennai, India

G. Gowthaman, K. Hari Haran, G. Keerthee Rajan, A. Sweeto Jeison

Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering,
Sri Sai Ram Engineering College, Chennai, India

ABSTRACT
Over flow of sewage on roads is been a major problem in many developed and
under developed cities as well. Sewage is generally considered as waste water. The
response to the complaints is not properly answered or taken into account. A
precautionary system is developed where this issue of sewage overflow can be reduced
by early sensing of increase in its level. The system design comprises of a sensor to
sense the level, a controller to command, a communication network to register the
complaints on blockage and continues increase in the level of sewage. A data base is
to be maintained to record the data. The system rather simply monitoring the level, it
generates alarm signals via complaints to the required departments through mail and
SMS regarding prior to overflow.
Key words: Sewage, Overflow, Precautionary system, Alarm signals, Level.
Cite this Article: B. Sumathy, G. Gowthaman, K. Hari Haran, G. Keerthee Rajan,
A. Sweeto Jeison, Sewage Level Maintenance using IoT, International Journal of
Mechanical Engineering and Technology 9(2), 2018, pp. 389–397.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=9&IType=2

1. INTRODUCTION
Sewage or household wastewater is a type of waste water which is produced by a group of
people. It is specified by volume, physical condition, and the chemical and toxic constituents
present. It consists of mostly grey water from sinks, tubs, showers and black water which is
used to flush toilets, combined with the human waste that it flushes soaps and detergents.
Sewage usually moves from the plumbing area of a building into a sewer, which carries it into
an onsite sewage facility of which there are many kinds depending on the sewer design
(sanitary sewer or combined sewer). The reality is that most wastewater produced globally
remains untreated causing widespread water pollution, especially in low-income countries[1].
A global approximate by UNDP and UN-Habitat is that 90% of all wastewater generated is
released into the environment untreated. In many developing countries the volume of
domestic and industrial wastewater is frequently discharged lacking any treatment or seldom
after primary treatment.

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 B. Sumathy, G. Gowthaman, K. Hari Haran, G. Keerthee Rajan, A. Sweeto Jeison

Sewage is a multifaceted mixture of chemicals, with many distinctive chemical

characteristics. These include high concentrations of ammonium, nitrate, phosphorus, high
conductivity (due to high dissolved solids), high alkalinity, with pH typically ranging between
7 and 8. The organic matter of sewage is measured by determining its biological oxygen
demand (BOD) or the chemical oxygen demand (COD) [2]. Sewage contains pathogenic
organisms which transmit disease to humans and animals. They also contain organic matter
that causes bad odor and easily attract the flies [2]. In cities where drainage and sanitation are
poor, water runs over the ground during rainstorms and contaminates water sources. This
contributes very much to the spread of diseases such as typhoid and cholera, and may increase
the likelihood of contracting worm infections from soil contamination. Flooding itself may
displace populations and lead to further health problems. This stagnant water contains many
chemicals and hazardous bacteria that give rise to much air born disease [3]. The odours of
this stagnant sewage on streets are unbearable. Few main reasons behind the issue are
irregular maintenance of the underground drainage system, improper replies and actions
towards the complaints on the issue. No proper action is being taken towards the complaints
on overflow of sewage on to the streets and no proper monitoring is done on the municipal
workers.
Drainage conditions should be monitored in order to ensure its proper functioning. Not all
areas have drainage proper monitoring teams which leads to irregular monitoring of the
drainage condition that has a vast contribution on the clogging of the drainage that imply to
the siltation which trigger flooding in the neighborhood. Manual monitoring is also
ineffective. It needs a lot of dedicated persons who are only able to record limited report with
low accuracy. These weaknesses lead to the slow handling for problems in drainage.
To overcome such a complication an IoT based sewage level maintenance system is
proposed, where the system uses a magnetic float sensor to detect and an Iot module to
communicate [4]. The maximum and minimum set level for the underground drainage system
is set and it is being monitored by a magnetic float level sensor. This level sensor keeps
tracking the level of the sewage and passes information on regarding to the municipal
department, to the corporation and other governing departments via MAILS or SMS. The
complaints will be auto launched prior to the overflow as soon as the level reaches the
maximum set. The complaints would me registered repeatedly by the mechanism until the
level reaches the minimum set. The entire system is controlled using a ARDUINO micro
controller.

2. LITERATURE SURVEY
A system of sewer pipes collectively called sewers, collects the sewage and takes it for further
treatment or disposal. Properly functioning septic tanks require emptying every 2–5 years
depending on the load of the system. An underground sewage system was designed where all
the waste from the home and industrial waste water are collected together and driven together.
Sewage overflow on roads is a major problem in cities, where large numbers of complaints
are launched and no actions are being taken.
A sewage level monitoring system was developed where paper discuss about the design of
drainage systems intended to monitor conditions at several points in drainage system using
wireless sensor networks [4]. Some sensor nodes are deployed at several determined points
tobe connected with each other. The recorded data will be stored into a database that is
visualized by Geographical Information System (GIS). The monitoring parameters are water
levels in drainage, water discharge and rainfall conditions around the drainage area. This
system is expected to monitor the drainage conditions real time continuously, and to store the

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 Sewage Level Maintenance using IoT

data properly. The presenting data through GIS is expected to be a reference for determining
drainage master plan in an area [4].
Recent studies proved that storm water coagulate into sewer system and causes sewer
overflow problems, for which Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) is used in a study
for simulating rainfall driven flow in a sewer system that could cause overflow in sewer
networks [5]. The simulation is carried out in a residential area where storm water network is
not fully developed. The report says that severe rainfall causes sewer overflow and surface
inundation in the area. A number of actions have been proposed which includes capacity
upgrading of sewer system, decline of discharge peak and reduction of exfiltration as a
counter measure to solve this problem [5].
In many places sewer level detection is being carried to detect the level of the fluid in
advance to overflow problems. In recent years Japan has often experienced unexpected
intense rain due to the development of cumulonimbus clouds; these are frequently occurring
torrential downpours. According to the Meteorological Agency, in 2014 short period heavy
rainfall exceeding 50 millimeters per hour occurred 237 times (at 1,000 observation points).
The long-term statistics from 1976 clearly shows this as an increasing trend [6]. Due to
relentless downpours, sewer systems have overflowed and numerous instances of flood
damage have been experienced mainly in cities [5]. Equipping manholes in sewer line
infrastructures with sensors can measure water levels and accurately detect early signs of
overflow. However, the operating cost for each sensor is expensive, making it difficult to
install sensors across a wide area. For this reason the number of sensors installed needs to be
minimized. However, the effective installation of sensors was largely dependent on intuition
and experience of the workers and now "there are growing expectations on ICT” to achieve
this.

3. PROPOSED METHOD
In the method proposed, development of IoT based sewage level maintenance is designed,
where the sewage level is monitored using a magnetic float level sensor[7]. The minimum and
maximum levels are set and the level sensor keeps on monitoring the level of the sewage. As
the level reaches the maximum set point, the float level sensor detects and send the signal to
the controller where the controller commands the IoT network to generate alert complaints to
the municipal and corporation departments in prior to overflow [8][9]. The complaints will be
repeatedly registered until the level reaches the minimum set. The communication is done
based on IoT where the complaints are auto registered via mails or sms and the entire system
is controlled using a ARDUINO microcontroller [10].

3.1. Function Block Diagram

The function block diagram describes the monitoring of sewage level in the underground
sewage system. The sewage being disposed form domestic and industrial sites are together
passed on to a drainage system. During the cases of any blockage in the pipe lines or during
the affect of storm water, level of the sewage increases. This continues increase in sewage
level causes overflow which is to be controlled. This increase in level of sewage is monitored
using a float switch (level sensor) [10]. The signal form the level sensor is fed to the micro
controller where the controller commands the IoT module to alarm complaints via mails and
sms. The controller is programmed such that the complaint alarms would be triggered
repeatedly unless the level reaches the minimum set.

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 B. Sumathy, G. Gowthaman, K. Hari Haran, G. Keerthee Rajan, A. Sweeto Jeison

Figure 1 Function block diagram

3.2. Block Diagram of IoT

Internet of things is a structure that which is used to interconnect computing devices,
machines, objects, animals or peoples that are provided with unique identifiers and their
capability to transmit data over a network without human– to-human interaction or even
human –to– computer interaction [10]. The internet service is the fundamental system linked
to the local user, router/hub and the cloud. The signal is transferred to the IoT module where
the local user and the router interact and pass on the message to the early fed inputs [11].

Figure 2 Block diagram of IoT

4. METHODOLOGY
The working of a float switch is to open or close the circuit as the level rises or goes down.
Usually float switches are not “normally closed” condition, which means that two wires come
from top of the switch complete the circuit when the float is atits lower level (i.e., resting at
dry level). The sewage level monitoring system consists of various stages which include
design of sensor, design of communication units, design of database and micro controller.

4.1. Sensor Details- Magnetic Float Sensor

Generally a float encircling a stationary stem is equipped with a powerful permanent magnet.
As the float rises or lowers with the liquid level, the magnetic field generated from within the
float actuates a hermetically sealed, magnetic reed switch mounted with a stem. The stem is
made of non – magnetic metals or rugged, engineered plastics. When mounted vertically, the
basic design provides a consistent accuracy of +1/8 inch. The processor is an important part
that will affect to the performance and energy consumption. Some types of processors that can

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 Sewage Level Maintenance using IoT

be used are: Microcontroller, Filed Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), IC (integrated circuit)
with specific application [12].

Figure 3 Float sensor

4.2. Communication Topology

The types of network topology that can be used are port to port topology, star, tree, mesh, ring
bus and fully connected topology. The design caries port to port topology, where Switched
point-to-point topologies are the basic model of conventional telephony.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 4 Communication Topology

From the survey report it is clear that for each sixty feet a manhole is located, thereby all
sewage manholes could be connected using star or mesh topology and each has a particular
tag name and thus during high level alarm is generated for the particular tag name via mails
and message.

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 B. Sumathy, G. Gowthaman, K. Hari Haran, G. Keerthee Rajan, A. Sweeto Jeison

Figure 5 Structure of IoT

IoT, or the Internet of Things, can be simply briefed as a network of small, low-cost, low-
power, electronic devices where sensing data and communicating information occur without
direct human intervention [13]. Each device serves as a “smart node” in the network by
sensing information and performing low-level signal processing to filter signals from noise
and to lessen the bandwidth required for node-to-node interactions [14]. The nodes need to
communicate with a centralized “cloud” in a secure manner to protect, store and process data,
and bounce actionable information down to humans. The technology deals with six major
fields. The play a vital role from connecting devices to human value. The device plays vital
role in connectivity, data sensing, data transport and access. Data analytics, value defined by
action and finally human values, applications and experiences [15].

4.3. Data Base System Design

Data base is planned in order to make possible the management of data (editing data), make it
simple for searching, give real time information, user friendly and supporting to the decision
making process. The rise in level generates alarm via mails or messages for each tag area.
Where a gateway is a network node that links two networks using different protocols
collectively. A bridge is used to bond two similar networks whereas a gateway links two
dissimilar networks. The most familiar gateway is a router that connects a home or enterprise
network to the internet. In the majority IP-based networks, the only traffic that doesn't go
through at least one gateway is traffic flowing among nodes on the same local area network
(LAN) division for example, computers connected to the same key [16]. Gateways can take
more than a few forms and execute a variety of tasks. These include, Web application
firewall, API, SOA or XML gateway, Cloud storage gateway, Media gateway , Email security
gateway, etc, [16].

4.4. Controller Interface-Arduino

Arduino is generally an open-source electronics platform which is easy to use both in
hardware and software. Arduino boards are capable of reading inputs, glow on a sensor, a

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 Sewage Level Maintenance using IoT

finger on a button, or a Twitter message and turn it into an output activating a motor,
switching on a LED, publishing impressive online. One can instruct their board what to do by
sending a set of instructions to the micro controller, which is carried using the Arduino
programming language (based on Wiring), and the Arduino Software (IDE), based on
Processing [17]. Some key features of Arduino are, Inexpensive, Cross-platform, Simple,
clear programming environment, Open source and extensible software, Open source and
extensible hardware.

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSION

The system is thereby comprised with a vertical magnetic float sensor which comments on the
level of sewage. Research on a 3 meter deep and a 12000 liters capacity of manhole thus
delivers a report where the minimum level was set to 0.5 meter with 1500 liters and the
maximum was 2.5 meters with 1000 liters where the sensor would keep sensing and thus the
maximum signal will generate a alarm via mails and sms with the help of a IoT module. The
IoT module is also connected with a gateway network where, the levels measured complaints
registered are all together collected in a database.
The chart for the depth (vs) volume is drawn and the graph for increase in level was
plotted as follows,

Table 1 Measurement of level (Depth In meters (vs) Volume of sewage)

DEPTH VOLUME OF
( METERS) SEWAGE
(LITRES)
0 0
0.5 1500
1 3500
1.5 6000
2 7500
2.5 10000 (alarm)
3 12000

The plot shows the increase in level of sewage during and blockage in chamber, where the
continues increase in level leads to over flow of sewage, which is avoided by prior continues
complaints to the municipal and cooperation departments via IoT by sensing the level of
sewage.
14000

12000

10000

8000
LEVEL (%)

Y-Values
6000

4000

2000

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
DISTANCE (METER)

Figure 6 Level Indications in Manhole

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 B. Sumathy, G. Gowthaman, K. Hari Haran, G. Keerthee Rajan, A. Sweeto Jeison

The final output by the IoT network would be in the form of mails and messages as
shown,

Figure 7 Output as SMS alert

6. CONCLUSIONS
A precautionary system avoids or eliminates the issue of sewage overflow on roads which is
being a major problem in many cities. The level sensors are efficiently used and system is
designed in a social relevant idea thus to create an impact on hygiene and cleanliness by
simply avoiding the problem of overflow on streets and also to ensure compulsory cleaning of
blockage which causes the increase the sewage level by registering repeated complaints to
random departments unless action is taken.

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