Water Wand

As urban flooding due to global warming and sea-level rise in coastal cities like Miami is becoming more frequent, finding methods for engaging and informing the affected citizens is critical. Water Wand is a citizen-science project consisting of a sensing device and mobile application to monitor water quality and depth in flood zones.

The lightweight and user-friendly Water Wand sensing device measures water depth, turbidity, salinity, pH, temperature, as well as the GPS of the collection zone. In addition, the Water Wand app communicates the importance of water quality monitoring research to the engaged community and allows citizen scientists to navigate through the device easily. Water Wand is in its final production phase, and the FIU Institute of the Environment will use the Water Wand project in its citizen engagement efforts.

Keywords

Citizen Science, Physical Computing, Water Pollution, Coastal Resiliency

Website

 https://roboticsacademy.fiu.edu

Credits

Mentors: Biayna Bogosian, Wilmer Arellano

Acknowledgments

 FIU Institute of Environment, FIU RDF Lab

Year

2018-Present