An IOT-Enabled Water-Level Monitoring and Pump-Control System Using Arduino and Ultrasonic Sensing

Abstract

Introduction

In India and other developing countries, most buildings use overhead water tanks supplied by underground sumps or borewells through electric pumps. In many cases, pumps are operated manually, which can lead to water overflow, empty tanks, unnecessary electricity consumption, and pump damage due to dry running.

Traditional float switches and electrode-based controllers automate pump operation but may suffer from corrosion, mechanical failure, and inaccurate level indication. To overcome these problems, the Internet of Things (IoT), ultrasonic sensors, and microcontrollers can be used for automatic water-level monitoring and pump control.

The proposed project develops an Arduino-based smart water-level monitoring system that provides automatic pump operation, temperature-compensated water-level measurement, and remote monitoring.

2. Literature Review

Previous research on water-level monitoring and pump automation can be divided into three main categories:

• Tank-level monitoring and pump control: Researchers have used ultrasonic sensors, Arduino, ESP8266, NodeMCU, and relay modules to monitor water levels and control pumps automatically. Some systems also provide mobile applications, SMS alerts, and cloud-based monitoring.

• Remote water-level monitoring: IoT, LoRa, LoRaWAN, and MQTT technologies have been used to monitor river levels, irrigation tanks, and flood conditions over long distances.

• Accuracy of ultrasonic sensors: Studies have shown that temperature variations affect ultrasonic sensor measurements because the speed of sound changes with air temperature.

The literature review indicates that most existing systems successfully monitor water levels and control pumps, but several important limitations remain.

3. Research Gap

The proposed system addresses three major limitations identified in previous studies:

1. Temperature compensation: Many existing systems do not consider temperature variations that affect ultrasonic sensor accuracy. The proposed system uses a DS18B20 temperature sensor to improve measurement accuracy.

2. Pump protection: Existing systems mainly depend on water-level thresholds. The proposed system includes sump dry-run protection, minimum off-time, maximum running time, and a no-rise timer.

3. Internet dependency: Some existing systems depend on cloud platforms for pump control. The proposed system makes all pump-control decisions locally, ensuring safe operation even when the internet connection is unavailable.

It also includes sensor fault detection using filtering and measurement validation.

4. Proposed System Architecture

The proposed system consists of three main layers:

• Field Node: Measures water level and temperature, controls the pump, and displays the system status locally.

• Cloud Layer: Receives and stores water-level information through MQTT and generates alerts.

• User Application Layer: Provides a dashboard for remote monitoring, notifications, and sending control requests.

The pump operates independently of the internet because all important control decisions are made by the Arduino.

5. Hardware Components

The main hardware components used in the proposed system are:

• Arduino Uno: Acts as the main controller and processes sensor readings and pump-control operations.

• JSN-SR04T Ultrasonic Sensor: Measures the distance between the sensor and the water surface without direct contact.

• DS18B20 Temperature Sensor: Measures the air temperature inside the tank to compensate for changes in the speed of sound.

• Additional components: Supporting electronic modules, communication devices, and pump-switching components are used to complete the system.

The waterproof JSN-SR04T sensor is selected instead of the commonly used HC-SR04 because it is more suitable for humid tank environments.

6. Working Principle

The ultrasonic sensor continuously measures the distance between the sensor and the water surface. The Arduino uses this measurement to calculate the water level.

The DS18B20 sensor measures the air temperature, allowing the Arduino to compensate for temperature-related measurement errors.

The control system uses:

• Hysteresis to prevent frequent pump switching.

• Minimum off-time to protect the pump.

• Sump-level monitoring to prevent dry running.

• A no-rise timer to detect situations where the pump operates without increasing the tank water level.

• Sensor filtering and plausibility checks to reject incorrect readings.

Water-level information is transmitted to the cloud through MQTT, allowing users to monitor the tank remotely.

Conclusion

This paper presented an IoT-enabled water-level monitoring and pump-control system based on an Arduino Uno, a waterproof ultrasonic sensor and an ESP8266 module. A review of 19 related studies showed that existing systems seldom compensate for temperature or protect the pump beyond simple level thresholds. The proposed system computes the speed of sound from measured air temperature, which removes an error of up to 4.2 cm at 1 m for a 25 °C rise above the calibration temperature, and protects the pump with sump, no-rise, minimum off-time and maximum run-time interlocks while keeping every switching decision local. Future work will complete the prototype measurements, add leakage detection by monitoring the level while the pump is off, extend the node to several tanks with an ESP32, use LoRaWAN for sites beyond Wi-Fi range, and add solar power for remote installations.

References

[1] A. Al-Fuqaha, M. Guizani, M. Mohammadi, M. Aledhari, and M. Ayyash, “Internet of Things: A survey on enabling technologies, protocols, and applications,” IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 2347–2376, 2015, doi: 10.1109/COMST.2015.2444095. [2] F. Jan, N. Min-Allah, S. Saeed, S. Z. Iqbal, and R. Ahmed, “IoT-based solutions to monitor water level, leakage, and motor control for smart water tanks,” Water, vol. 14, no. 3, Art. no. 309, 2022, doi: 10.3390/w14030309. [3] T. Perumal, M. N. Sulaiman, and C. Y. Leong, “Internet of Things (IoT) enabled water monitoring system,” in Proc. IEEE 4th Global Conference on Consumer Electronics (GCCE), Osaka, Japan, 2015, doi: 10.1109/GCCE.2015.7398710. [4] D. K. Fisher and R. Sui, “An inexpensive open-source ultrasonic sensing system for monitoring liquid levels,” Agricultural Engineering International: CIGR Journal, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 328–334, 2013. [5] M. I. Bello, S. M. Gana, M. I. Faruk, and M. J. Umar, “Autonomous ultrasonic based water level detection and control system,” Nigerian Journal of Technology, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 508–513, 2018, doi: 10.4314/njt.372.1690. [6] S. Sachio, A. Noertjahyana, and R. Lim, “IoT based water level control system,” in Proc. 3rd Technology Innovation Management and Engineering Science International Conference (TIMES-iCON), Bangkok, Thailand, 2018. [7] T. Lestariningsih, B. Artono, N. Hidayatullah, and H. Kusbandono, “Microcontroller and Android HMI based water level and control system,” EAI Endorsed Transactions on Internet of Things, vol. 5, no. 17, 2019, doi: 10.4108/eai.28-1-2019.162807. [8] M. Krishnaveni, S. K. P. Kumar, E. A. Muthusamy, J. Kowshick, and K. G. Arunya, “Real-time monitoring of water level and storage dynamics of irrigation tank using IoT,” H2Open Journal, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 392–400, 2020, doi: 10.2166/h2oj.2020.123. [9] A. Praveen, R. Radhika, D. Sidharth, S. Ambat, and T. Anjali, “Smart water level monitoring and management system using IoT,” in Proc. 6th International Conference on Communication and Electronics Systems (ICCES), 2021, pp. 482–487. [10] Y. Panagopoulos, A. Papadopoulos, G. Poulis, E. Nikiforakis, and E. Dimitriou, “Assessment of an ultrasonic water stage monitoring sensor operating in an urban stream,” Sensors, vol. 21, no. 14, Art. no. 4689, 2021, doi: 10.3390/s21144689. [11] I. P. E. A. Harrischandra, I. M. S. Wibawa, and N. Wendri, “Designing water level control equipment using SMS-based ultrasonic sensors,” Buletin Fisika, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 121–129, 2022, doi: 10.24843/BF.2022.v23.i02.p07. [12] J. Kabi, C. Maina, S. Wamae, and E. Mharakurwa, “Low cost, LoRa based river water level data acquisition system,” HardwareX, 2023 (open access, PMC10050633). [13] L. T. Petru, M. V. Tivlea, and S. E. Popa, “Water level control and monitoring system in a tank made with Arduino Uno and NodeMCU ESP8266 development boards,” Preprints, 2023, doi: 10.20944/preprints202304.0735.v1. [14] V. J. Baratella, C. T. B. da Costa, D. Spadoti, A. G. Almeida, and B. C. da Silva, “Ultra low power water level transmission system using LoRaWAN technology,” in Proc. XLI Simpósio Brasileiro de Telecomunicações e Processamento de Sinais (SBrT), 2023, doi: 10.14209/sbrt.2023.1570917497. [15] J. Rajanbabu, G. R. Venkatakrishnan, R. Rengaraj, M. Rajalakshmi, and N. Jayaprakash, “An integrated smart water management system for efficient water conservation,” International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 635–644, 2025, doi: 10.11591/ijece.v15i1.pp635-644. [16] W. X. Yap and N. H. Ali, “IoT-based smart water management system for efficient consumption and conservation,” in Proc. Multimedia University Engineering Conference (MECON), Cyberjaya, Malaysia, 2025, pp. 1–5, doi: 10.1109/MECON67253.2025.11277091. [17] I. S. Mohamed Jumaiedy and A. Suratkon, “IoT based water tank level and turbidity detection and monitoring system,” Recent Trends in Civil Engineering and Built Environment, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 174–185, 2025. [18] Y. M. R. N. T. Yapa, S. J. Sooriyaarachchi, and C. R. De Silva, “IoT-based river water level monitoring system using LoRa technology,” in Proc. Engineering Research Unit (ERU) Symposium, University of Moratuwa, 2025, doi: 10.31705/ERU.2025.8. [19] S. Sadi and S. Mulyati, “IoT-enabled smart water level monitoring and automatic floodgate control using Arduino and cloud integration,” Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer (JEECOM), vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 136–144, 2026, doi: 10.33650/jeecom.v8i3.17102. [20] E. Kabir, M. R. Ali, M. R. A. Mamun, N. S. Ahmed, and M. S. Alam, “IoT-enabled automatic water level controller for remote monitoring and management,” Journal of the Bangladesh Agricultural University, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 275–283, 2026, doi: 10.3329/jbau.v24i3.93900. [21] O. Cramer, “The variation of the specific heat ratio and the speed of sound in air with temperature, pressure, humidity, and CO2 concentration,” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, vol. 93, no. 5, pp. 2510–2525, 1993, doi: 10.1121/1.405827. [22] Microchip Technology Inc., “ATmega328P 8-bit AVR microcontroller with 32K bytes in-system programmable flash,” datasheet. [23] JSN-SR04T waterproof ultrasonic ranging module, product datasheet. [24] Espressif Systems, “ESP8266EX datasheet,” technical documentation. [25] OASIS, “MQTT version 3.1.1,” OASIS Standard, A. Banks and R. Gupta, Eds., Oct. 2014.

Copyright

Copyright © 2026 Mahi Kumari, Khushbu Kumari, Rakhi Kumari, Priti Kumari. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.