Chile has suffered a years-long water crisis that affects both the productive sector and human consumption. The lack of water caused by the scarcity of rainfall, climate change, among other factors, has changed our relationship with this resource, even to the point of considering rationing in populated areas such as the Metropolitan Region.

In this context, the FONDEF project “Open water: Open expert system to support water resource management through low-cost real-time monitoring of water,” led by researcher of the Advanced Center for Electrical and Electronic Engineering (AC3E), Dr. Sandra Céspedes, who is also an academic at Universidad de Chile’s Department of Electrical Engineering, was presented on May 12.

At the event, the prototype of a low-cost device was presented so that communities can massively monitor and manage water use more efficiently through data visualization and a system that detects anomalies.

The long-term goal is to evolve into a final product, becoming a low-cost and open multiparametric measurement system, with which the monitoring of both surface and groundwater quality can be massified.

The project was developed in partnership with water utility ESVAL, Arcadis Chile, the University of Illinois and water regulator Dirección General de Aguas. The research team included Prof. Linda Daniele and Prof. Doris Sáez, from Universidad de Chile’s Department of Geology and Department of Electrical Engineering, respectively, as well as the director of Niclabs, Javier Bustos. The project was funded through the FONDEF IDeA I+D 19I10363 competition.