River Cleaning Machine with Depth Measuring

Abstract

Water pollution is one of the most serious environmental challenges affecting aquatic life and human health. Rivers, being a major source of freshwater, are continuously polluted by domestic waste, plastics, and industrial effluents. To overcome this problem, an automated River Cleaning Machine with Depth Measuring System is proposed. The developed model consists of a floating structure equipped with a conveyor belt mechanism that collects floating waste materials from the water surface. The system is operated through an Arduino microcontroller, which controls the movement of DC motors and processes depth information from an ultrasonic sensor. The depth measurement feature helps monitor the riverbed level and analyze water conditions for future environmental studies. This dual-function design reduces human effort, improves cleaning efficiency, and provides useful data for river maintenance. The machine is low-cost, energy-efficient, and suitable for small and medium water bodies. The proposed system contributes toward sustainable development by maintaining water cleanliness and supporting smart environmental management.

Introduction

Water is a vital natural resource, and rivers are crucial for freshwater supply. However, pollution from plastics, sewage, and industrial waste has severely impacted river ecosystems. Manual cleaning methods are labor-intensive, unsafe, and inefficient, highlighting the need for automated solutions.

The River Cleaning Machine with Depth Measuring System addresses these challenges by combining waste removal and water depth monitoring in a single, automated system. It uses a conveyor belt mechanism powered by DC motors to collect floating debris and an ultrasonic sensor (HC-SR04) to measure water depth. An Arduino UNO microcontroller coordinates motor control, sensor readings, and overall system functionality. The machine floats on a PVC or thermocol base and deposits collected waste into a storage tray.

The system is compact, low-cost, eco-friendly, and suitable for small rivers, ponds, and lakes. Testing showed effective waste collection, accurate depth measurement up to 3 meters, and smooth, autonomous operation on a 12V rechargeable battery.

Future enhancements include IoT integration for remote monitoring, solar power for energy efficiency, robotic arms or AI for improved waste collection, GPS tracking, scaling for larger water bodies, and additional water quality sensing.

Conclusion

The River Cleaning Machine with Depth Measuring System provides an efficient and eco-friendly solution for cleaning water bodies and monitoring water depth. The system successfully collects floating waste through a conveyor mechanism and measures the water depth using an ultrasonic sensor. The use of an ATmega328p microcontroller ensures smooth and automatic operation with minimal human effort. The prototype proved to be low-cost, portable, and reliable, making it suitable for small rivers, ponds, and lakes. It helps in reducing manual labor, saving time, and promoting environmental cleanliness. The combination of cleaning and depth measurement makes the system useful not only for pollution control but also for environmental data collection and analysis. In future, the system can be enhanced with solar energy and IoT technology to improve efficiency and enable real-time monitoring.

References

[1] Minal Barhate et al., “River Pollution Monitoring and Cleaning Robot Using Arduino,” IJIRT, Vol. 10, Issue 5, 2023. [2] Nirmal Kedar et al., “Solar-Based River Cleaning System,” IJRPR, Vol. 5, Issue 3, 2024. [3] “Automated River Cleaning Robot for Plastic Waste Segregation Using AI,” JISEM, 2024. [4] “River Depth Monitoring with GPS Integrated and Cleaning Robot,” IJSDR, Vol. 10, Issue 7, July 2025. [5] “Smart River Cleaning System,” IRJMETS, Vol. 12, Issue 5, 2025. [6] “Automation in River Cleaning System,” IARJSET, Vol. 12, Issue 11, November 2025.

Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Ms. Araju Mubarak Naikawadi , Ms. Srushti Manik Koruche , Ms. Prajakta Gundu Mali , Ms. Pranoti Pramod Mirajkar, Ms. P. J. Salokhe. 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.