CONSERVING WATER WITH A PLC BASED IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Farming accounts for about 70% of the freshwater consumption. The existing timerbased approaches utilized in farming results in waste of significant amount of fresh water. This paper details the development of a PLC based automated irrigation system which can adapt the daily irrigation amount according to the varying climate and type of crops. The system uses simple sensors to adapt daily irrigation amounts to plant needs. The water levels can be directly sensed by PLCs which then adapt the irrigation schedule to the observed conditions, saving great amounts of water