Sensors run the water management in this AP village

HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday examined a pilot project to digitise aquaculture techniques and automate water grid management using sensors in Mori village near Godavari basin in collaboration with University of California, Berkeley and tech major Ericsson.

The initiative, pilot of which has been going on for the past three months, was demonstrated to AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu today who also hinted towards applicability of aquaponics and Smart Water Grid Management technology in other regions of the state.

Aquaponics allows farmers in aquaculture to constantly record the ph and ammonia levels of the water being used through sensors and a smart phone application. "

According to Anand Varadarajan, Head of Ericsson Research, Chennai at Ericsson India, "Farmers into aquaculture earlier used to test their water samples once in 10 days. This led to a reduction in production by almost 50% due to imbalance in ph and ammonia levels. Our connected aquaponic technique provides them real-time data and also reuses ammonia rich waste water from aquaculture for organic farming and recycle the water back to the aqua farm resulting in increased yield and also brings down the production cost."

Its smart water grid management system enables efficient use of natural water resources in the Godavari basin through use of sensors and actuators. The sensors measure the quality of water, flow of water and levels in the water storage tanks across the villages and opens the sensor regulated gates whenever the water level in storage tanks recedes.

Ericsson had earlier in the year signed an MoU with the Govt of Andhra Pradesh and UC Berkley to help improve lives of farmers in and around Mori.