Using Internet of Things for sustainable groundwater drought management in the Modder River catchment of South Africa

• Published in: 2019 Open Innovations (OI) pp. 63 - 70
• Main Authors: Oke, Saheed A, Alowo, Rebecca, Masinde, Muthoni
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.10.2019
• Subjects: drought; Geographical Information Systems (GIS); groundwater license; groundwater sustainability; Internet of Things; Internet of Things (IoT); Licenses; rainfall; Rivers; Sociology; Statistics; Sustainable development; Water resources
• DOI: 10.1109/OI.2019.8908246

This paper presents the use of Internet of things (IoT) to solve the challenges encountered in groundwater management. We present a model for predicting the sustainability of groundwater at catchment scale, focusing on the Modder river catchment. IoT has turned out to be a standout amongst the most sought-after research subjects today. On the other hand, the concept of groundwater sustainability considers a long to medium term approach to management of groundwater. The methodology involved a detailed review and understanding most important groundwater processes and factors of an aquifer system that are related to drought management. A reflection on sustainability, the groundwater licensing tool, GIS mapping, impact of drought and sustainability in aquifers. The paper highlights the use of IoT development using the scores and ranking of climate, aquifer, equity and socio-economic factors. For the catchment that was the case study, a comparison of recharge was examined, yields, storativity, aquifer types, and lithology/rock types. This was also in addition to an assessment of the physical processes affecting groundwater systems at Modder catchment scale. A GIS map considering factors such as the climatic (climatic zones precipitation, sunshine, evapotranspiration, slope, topography), was plotted. Based on this approach, an IoTs drought decision making system is presented. Using results and findings, this paper confirms the increasing use of IoT for sustainable groundwater management.