Keeping on top of water levels way below the surface.

In Australia there are in excess of 20,000 groundwater observation bores.

That’s a lot of deep holes. And most have to be visited in person to manually check the level of water. Ideally, this happens every 3 months. The most common testing method is pretty basic and involves dipping into the bore to obtain the level. A more sophisticated solution is to install a water level sensor in the bore with a battery powered data logger that stores the information. However, someone still has to visit the site, recover the device and download the info. Which means a site visit. And, as the bores are often in very remote regions, people need to travel long distances to visit the groundwater monitoring bores. Of course, helicopters can be used to visit the remote sites. Sure, it allows more ground and groundwater to be covered but it’s a lot more expensive.

Now this is where a lot of you are going to be thinking, why not just transmit the data remotely rather than visit in person. Which is the ideal solution. A sensor in the bore captures the data, the readings are logged and routinely that data is sent to a web-based system on the internet or a government server system. That way the data can be viewed and the groundwater and aquifer better managed in near real time. So no more site visits and near real time data. What’s not to like?

Well, if you think people are an expensive way to monitor bore holes, traditional satellites aren’t much better. The cost is around $2000E capital cost for the sensor and the data logger plus another $300E per year for the satellite airtime for each monitoring bore. Now, that may not seem as a big amount. However, when there are 20,000 bores across the whole continent, the costs shoots higher than a SpaceX launch so to speak. That can mean an annual satellite airtime bill alone of around $1.5 million per year for a single region, $6 million per year for all bore holes. That is no small drop in the groundwater ocean.

Making managing our natural resources effective and affordable is one of the fundamental reasons Hiberband came into being. The Hiber nano satellite service is set to dramatically change everything in Australia. The satellites are tiny with amazing global coverage. What else is small is the cost of sending data to them from anywhere on Earth. Be that the darkest jungle, busiest city, tallest mountain, wettest rainforest, roughest ocean or, in Australia’s case, a desert that is drier than a parched dingo’s tongue.

With Hiberband, the capital cost is around $1000E. So a 50% initial saving there. More importantly, the annual cost for Hiberband and the satellite airtime bill is less than $100,000 to monitor 5000 bores. That is 15 times cheaper. Sorry, did someone just drop their chilled one? Yes, 15 times cheaper. Which means two things to the Government bodies in Australia. Firstly, it saves time, money and human resources, as now there is no need to visit each groundwater bore hole to check the water level. Secondly, problems can be spotted earlier and only bore holes where there is an issue need to be visited in person.

We’ve all heard of a win win situation, but for managing Australia’s water resources that really is the case.

Unidata is an Australian company dedicated to managing and maintaining Australia’s natural resources such as water.

It has developed a range of solar-powered remote logging and telemetry systems whose sensors make monitoring groundwater levels easy and effective.

It works very simply. The levels are monitored every 8 hours and the data transmitted every 24 hours to a central server. As groundwater levels are so important, if there is an issue an alert is sent. If there is no acknowledgement within a preset time other people are alerted. Ensuring that no time is wasted in averting a disaster.

As you’d expect, there is an initial cost for the installation of a sensor and a data logger/telemetry unit. However, that cost is offset by there being less need for staff to visit every remote sites. On average, it pays for itself in the same time it takes to make up to 10 regular 3 monthly visits. Say 2–3 years.
However, as mentioned earlier, the capital costs pales compared to the yearly satellite connectivity cost. At least it did before Hiberband.

To make use of our automated groundwater bore level monitoring system in remote areas, satellite connectivity is essential. We use traditional satellite connectivity, but it is more expensive and power hungry. However, as a daily measurement is sufficient for bore level monitoring Hiberband will be the perfect replacement for traditional satellite connectivity. Saving time, money and resources no matter where the groundwater bore is located.

Matt Saunders

General Manager at Unidata