A DIY Water-Usage Monitor
Use an Arduino and a Raspberry Pi to track your water use in real time
More and more, people are being asked to conserve water. But the only kind of feedback you normally get is on your monthly water bill. You could walk out to your water meter daily and note usage, but that’s inconvenient, and it provides only spot readings. If you really want to see how much water you’re using, you’ll need something that monitors the flow in real time and reports that to you. Here’s a solution for those who like to cobble together their own gadgets.
David Schneider is a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum. His beat focuses on computing, and he contributes frequently to Spectrum's Hands On column. He holds a bachelor's degree in geology from Yale, a master's in engineering from UC Berkeley, and a doctorate in geology from Columbia.