Tackling water pollution by making water quality monitoring accessible and affordable

Nutrient water pollution is one of the most widespread, challenging, and costly environmental issues in the world. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus resulting largely from agricultural activities has had devastating effects on environmental and human health. And while there are resources available to support those in the industry with adopting best practices and equipment to manage the issue, many tools are cost-prohibitive or otherwise not accessible.  

Colorado’s Agricultural Water Quality Program (AWQP) was established to protect state waters and the environment from the improper use of agricultural chemicals while allowing for their proper and correct use. The program is composed of teams from Colorado State University (CSU), the Colorado Department of Agriculture, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The CSU branch is responsible for providing research, education, and training on agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs). In their search for accessible solutions, they developed a low-cost, automated water sampler (LCS) to advance water quality research and make monitoring more affordable.  

Traditional water samplers cost upwards of $15,000 per unit, limiting access for water resource managers, farmers, and researchers. In response, the AWQP team, led by Manny Deleon, A.J. Brown, and Erik Wardle, created the LCS at a fraction of the cost.  

“This was an opportunity for us to create a low-cost sampler for not just researchers, but anyone interested in water quality,” said Brown, agricultural data scientist. In 2024, the group received the CSU Demo Day Research Excellence award sponsored by the Vice President for Research for their ability to demonstrate the real-world applications and commercialization potential of their innovation. 

The LCS can be deployed in any open water and collects real-time data utilizing Internet of Things (IoT) technology, helping users measure water quality more effectively for environmental impact analysis.  

The group worked with CSU STRATA’s Technology Transfer team to determine the best path forward for protecting the innovation, while ensuring continued growth, development, and—most importantly—access. CSU STRATA Technology Transfer helps innovators throughout the CSU System secure patents, copyrights, and trademarks to protect their intellectual property, with the goal of accelerating the translation of cutting-edge research into meaningful products and services that can enrich people’s lives locally, nationally, and globally. While the original software is copyrighted to maintain the sampler’s quality and functionality, the group opted to make it available via open source, which allows others to modify and improve the design.

To date, 19 LCS units have been deployed across Colorado. These samplers and the data they collect inform state water policy and influence guidelines for the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). With the software accessible through open source, the group hopes others will continue to hone and improve it, promoting progress and more widespread use.