Reliable technology for monitoring water quality is integral to ensuring that the food we eat, the beverages we drink, and the water we come in contact with are safe and healthy to consume.
As widespread industrialization continues to increase the amount of runoff in our water sources and pollutants in our ecosystem, it’s exceptionally important to have a reliable means of monitoring the quality of our water in both natural and industrial settings.
More recently, producers and consumers across every industry have begun to appreciate the ways that smart technology and big data can be used to promote change and inform our continued evolution—and the water-quality-monitoring industry is no exception.
We’ve outlined four key areas where Bluetooth-compatible meters and smartphone apps have revolutionized water-quality monitoring.
Water-quality meters have applications in a vast array of industries, including wastewater treatment, environmental monitoring and research, food and beverage, aquaculture, hydroponics, pharmaceuticals, medical and life sciences research, and pool and spa water monitoring, to name a few. In many industries, it’s important that meters are portable so that readings can be taken from a variety of locations. Whereas traditional meters were limited in memory storage and analytical functionality, Bluetooth-enabled meters and smartphone apps have allowed users to store and compare data from any location with greater ease, sophistication, and precision. Because smartphone apps inherently provide more options than a traditional four-button portable meter, they enable greater data visibility, customization, and organization and allow users to save readings in real-time via the cloud.
When it comes to water-quality testing, location is everything. In a body of water as small as a 15-by-30-foot backyard pool, it’s possible to get different readings in different locations because of geographic variables such as temperature or local TDS (total dissolved solids) levels. In vast, natural bodies of water, there’s even greater variation in water quality by region. To collect consistent and accurate data, users often take readings in multiple locations and interpret data fluctuations in the context of factors such as the timing and location of readings.
Traditional water-quality meters often save data with a timestamp but leave it up to the user to note the location of the reading and manually upload and organize data into an analytics framework. Bluetooth-compatible meters and smartphone apps, such as the Jenco portable tester pictured here, have made it possible to accurately map data to specific locations using GPS tracking, automatically archiving and organizing readings by time and location for easy comparison.
Although most modern consumers take data sharing for granted, the ability to communicate and share data from one person or machine to the next is the driving force behind “the internet of things.” Smart water-quality meters allow users to easily share field data and communicate with existing cloud-based databases to empower real-time insight and collaboration, regardless of location.
Smart water-quality meters provide users with a much more expansive and intuitive user experience (UX) and interface (UI). Jenco’s Bluetooth-compatible oxidation-reduction potential (ORP)/temperature tester (pictured) is one such meter.
An intuitive interface is exceptionally important when it comes to adjusting meter settings in the field with greater ease, efficiency, and accuracy. Using a smartphone app, a user can browse previous calibration information and customize calibration and display settings to ensure greater clarity and consistency between readings.
For more information on the unique functions and benefits offered by smart water-quality meters, be sure to research your chosen tester’s unique features and applications. To shop Jenco Instruments’ Bluetooth-compatible water-quality meters and locate a distributor, click the button below.