Abstract:
This project focuses on solving the problem of water wastage caused by undetected leaks in
agricultural irrigation pipelines. Standard inspection methods are slow and often locate leaks only after
significant amounts of water have been lost. To fix this delay, this study designs and tests a low-cost,
automated Internet of Things (IoT) system that monitors pipelines continuously and catches leaks in
real time. The system layout features a 4-meter PVC pipeline, a water pump, and two inexpensive YFS201 flow sensors installed at the pipeline's inlet and outlet. An ESP32 microcontroller constantly reads
the water flow data from both sensors. When a leak occurs, it creates an imbalance between the inlet
and outlet flow rates; if this difference crosses a pre-set limit, the ESP32 automatically rings a buzzer,
turns on a warning LED, sends an text message to the operator using a GSM module, and trips a relay
to shut off the pump immediately. The experimental prototype was tested under two different leak
conditions using a bypass valve to simulate a pipe break. The system successfully achieved a 100%
detection rate and caught every simulated leak in an average time of just 5.073 seconds. By shutting
down the system so quickly, the automated setup tightly limited water loss to minor amounts (about 1
L per event), proving it is a highly dependable and practical solution for smart water conservation in
farming
