Prototype of Methyl Mercury Contamination Monitoring System

based on Internet of Things in the Jambi Batanghari River

Pariyadi

and Degita Astari Prakasiwi

Department of Informatics, Faculty of Computer Science, Universitas Nurdin Hamzah, Jambi, Indonesia

Department of Information System, Faculty of Computer Science, Universitas Nurdin Hamzah, Jambi, Indonesia

Keywords: Batanghari river, contamination monitoring, internet of things, methyl mercury, raspberry pi.

Abstract: The parameters used to monitor and determine river water quality are divided into physical, chemical, and

microbiological parameters. Specific on chemical parameters, especially dissolved metals, there is also

Methyl Mercury / Hg, which is very dangerous. Even water that is exposed to mercury cannot be purified in

any way. Research on water quality by the Jambi Regional Environment Agency at 16 points found that the

Batanghari river category is now heavily polluted (Class D), allegedly due to wastewater from Gold Mining

Without Permits (PETI). The need for raw water for residents throughout the Batanghari River area is urgent

always to maintain its quality. To find out the development of water quality, especially in the dissolved metal

content, which is dangerous and is the primary pollutant of illegal gold mining activities such as Methyl

Mercury / Hg, effective and efficient technology is needed so that it is expected to be able to read the level in

real-time. Contamination of water. The purpose of monitoring water quality is to match whether the quality

of water monitoring results is following the standard of use/consumption. The internet of things technology

is applied using a raspberry pi with several sensors, including a pH sensor, water electrolyzer, and colour

sensor, as well as a TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) analogue gravity sensor, as well as a mobile web-based

application that is used to monitor real-time data. The mercury contamination monitoring tool will produce

data output in a summary of the mercury contamination category, pH, and water turbidity level. Then the

output generated in real-time is sent via the Module Shield SIM800L GSM component to the server and can

be monitored through the Methyl Mercury Contamination Monitoring Application.

1 INTRODUCTION

Based on the Government Regulation of the Republic

of Indonesia Number 82 of 2001 concerning

Management of Water Quality and Water Pollution,

the parameters used to monitor and determine river

water quality are divided into physical, chemical, and

microbiological parameters. Physical parameters

consist of turbidity, colour, taste, smell, temperature,

and Total Dissolve Solid (TDS) (Republic of

Indonesia Government Regulation Number 82 of

2001). While the chemical parameters consist of pH,

Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biological Oxygen Demand

(BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Nitrate,

Nitrite, Sulfate, hardness, and dissolved metals.

Meanwhile, the biological parameters consist of Total

coliform and Escherichia coli. In chemical

parameters, especially dissolved metals, mercury

(Methyl Mercury / Hg) is very dangerous.

Even water that is exposed to mercury cannot be

purified in any way. Based on Government

Regulation Number 82 of 2001 regarding raw

materials for drinking water, the safe limit for

mercury is 0.001 mg / l, arsenic is 0.005 mg / l, and

iron is 0.3 mg / l. Reporting from the results published

on the Kompas website, the level of mercury in the

surface water of the Tembesi River, which is the

water source for PDAM Tirta Sako Batuah,

Sarolangun City, is right at the critical line. In the

PDAM intake channel, the levels of heavy metals

reached 0.001 mg / l, iron 1.39 mg / l, and arsenic

0.001 mg / l. Mercury levels in the intake sample of

PDAM Merangin, whose water comes from the

Merangin River, is the same as the Mesumai River

(0.0008 mg / l), arsenic is 0.002 mg / l, but the iron

content is four times above the safe limit (1.31 mg /

l). The three rivers empty into Batanghari. As a result,

the water quality of the Batanghari River continues to

deteriorate. Last April, research on water quality by

Pariyadi, . and Prakasiwi, D.

Prototype of Methyl Mercury Contamination Monitoring System based on Internet of Things in the Jambi Batanghari River.

DOI: 10.5220/0010794400003317

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Science, Technology, and Environment (ICoSTE 2020) - Green Technology and Science to Face a New Century, pages 73-77

ISBN: 978-989-758-545-6

the Jambi Regional Environment Agency found that

the Batanghari category was now heavily polluted

(Class D), allegedly due to wastewater from

unlicensed gold mining (PETI). Also, based on the

data listed in the Decree of the Minister of Public

Works Number 51 / KPTS / M / 2012 concerning the

Management Pattern of Water Resources in the

Batanghari River Basin, it is projected that the

population around the Batanghari River area

continues to increase every year, for example, Jambi

City to In 2028 it is projected that a total of 715,525

people depend on the Batanghari River with water

needs increasing to 104.46 m3/s (Decree of the

Minister of Public Works Number 51 / KPTS / M /

2012).

2 MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

2.1 Place and Time of Research

This research was carried out in the Laboratory of

Computer Science, Faculty of Computer Science,

Universitas Nurdin Hamzah, and Laboratorium of

Sumatra River Basin VI in May to October 2020.

2.2 Materials

The research was carried out in the Batanghari Jambi

river water bodies. Water sampling is carried out in

the Aurduri Bridge area 1. Development of the device

uses several components, including Raspberry Pi 4

Model B, SIM800L V.2 V2 5V Upgrade GSM GPRS

Quad-Band with Antenna, PH Meter 0-14 Detector

Sensor Probe Module, Measuring Tool Water Quality

TDS Electrolyzer, TCS3200 Color Sensor Board

Module Color, DFRobot Gravity Analog TDS Sensor

/ Meter. The methyl mercury pollution monitoring

application was developed using one of the PHP

programming frameworks, namely Laravel 7 and the

MySQL database.

2.3 Research Methods

The monitoring system that is designed consists of

three main parts, namely the pH probe sensor as input,

the Raspberry Pi as a server computer (web server and

database server), and SIM800L V.2 V2 5V GSM

upgrade as a network device. The following in Figure

1 is a system design block diagram:

Figure 1. Block System Design Diagram

The pH probe sensor used in the design of this

monitoring device is a glass electrode that functions

as a pH sensor connected to the pH circuit using a

BNC connector. Electrolyzer water quality

measurement tool for detecting mercury (methyl

mercury) contamination, pH circuit and Gravity

Analog TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) connected to

the Raspberry Pi with serial communication on the

Raspberry Pi GPIO pin, namely the RX pin on the pH

circuit connected to the TXD pin on the Raspberry Pi,

the TX pin is connected to the RDX pin. When the

Electrolyzer, pH probe sensor, and TDS analogue

gravity sensor receive a reference voltage in the form

of an analogue signal from each sensor, the

Electrolyzer results will be sent to the TCS3200 Color

sensor. The pH circuit and Gravity Analog TDS will

process the output voltage passed by the pH and TDS

sensors into data in the form of values of mercury

(methyl mercury), pH, and TDS.

2.4 Implementation of Research

2.4.1 Raspberry Pi

According to Natarajan (Natarajan, 2014), the

Raspberry Pi is a mini-computer that is the same size

as a credit card that can be used for many things as a

computer can do, such as spreadsheets, word

processing, games, and programming.

Raspberry Pi can also be used for controlling more

than one device, both short and long distances. Unlike

the microcontroller, the Raspberry Pi can control

more than 1 unit of the device you want to control.

For controlling the unit device, the Raspberry Pi uses

the Python language as its programming language.

Raspberry Pi has several features, namely Micro SD,

which functions as a hard drive, USB port, Ethernet

port, audio-video output, HDMI Video, 400-700

MHz CPU, and most importantly, the Raspberry Pi

has a GPIO pin that functions to interface with

various devices electronic.

ICoSTE 2020 - the International Conference on Science, Technology, and Environment (ICoSTE)

2.4.2 Methyl Mercury

Methylmercury is a hazardous substance of interest

concerning environmental health. Inorganic mercury

circulating in the general environment is dissolved

into freshwater and seawater, condensed through the

food chain, ingested by humans, and consequently

affects human health. Recently, there has been much

interest and discussion regarding the toxicity of

methylmercury, the correlation with fish and shellfish

intake, and long-term management methods of the

human health effects of methylmercury. What effects

chronic exposure to a low concentration of

methylmercury has on human health remains

controversial. Although the possibility of

methylmercury poisoning the heart and blood vessel

system, the reproductive system, and the immune

system is continuously raised and discussed, and the

carcinogenicity of methylmercury is also under

discussion, a clear conclusion regarding the human

health effects according to exposure level has not yet

been drawn (Young, et al., 2012).

2.4.3 The Batanghari River

The Batanghari River is one of the rivers in Indonesia,

which has its head in the West Sumatra Province with

its water source from Mount Rasan, flowing

downstream in the Jambi Province. This river passes

through several districts in the two provinces

(Ratnaningsih, et al., 2019).

2.4.4 Internet of Things

In the past decade, all humans’ life changed because

of the internet. The internet of things has been

heralded as one of the significant developments in the

internet portfolio of technologies. The Internet of

Things (IoT) is concerned with interconnecting

communicating objects that are installed at different

locations that are possibly distant from each other.

Internet of Things represents a concept in which

network devices can collect and sense data from the

world and then share that data across the internet,

where that data can be utilized and processed for

various purposes (Kalpana, 2016).

2.4.5 Sample Analysis

Raspberry Pi functions as a server computer (web

server and database server). The Raspberry Pi will

receive a pH value which is the output of the pH

circuit. Readings of the pH value received will be

directed to a database table on MySQL periodically

to be stored and displayed using a graph on the

monitoring web page; besides that, the monitoring

web page also displays the pH value is measured

directly or live. SIM800L V.2 V2 5V GSM upgrade

functions as a network device on the connected

Raspberry Pi. Internet or GSM access is required so

that the local web server that has been designed on the

Raspberry Pi can be widely accessed by the client

using the internet network via the tunnelling method

or via short message when the internet signal is

inadequate.

The power supply in this design functions as a

source of electrical energy required by the main

components of the monitoring system. The power

supply circuit in the design of this monitoring device

uses a DC to DC converter whose output voltage can

be adjusted. This circuit has an energy source, namely

from the battery as the main power. As for the series

of monitoring device construction as shown in the

figure 2.

Figure 2. Construction Monitoring Device

Figure 2 is the design of water pollution monitoring

devices based on the internet of things. The

monitoring device is designed as light as possible to

float on the water in the position of the sensor below

to touch the water directly and the position of the solar

panel above so that it is easy to get solar radiation.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The need for raw water for residents throughout the

Batanghari River area is urgent always to maintain its

quality. To determine the development of water

quality, especially in the dissolved metal content,

which is dangerous and is the primary pollutant of

illegal gold mining activities such as methyl mercury

/ Hg, effective and efficient technology is needed so

that it is expected to be able to read the level of

contamination in water in real-time. Water quality

monitoring aims to match whether the water quality

Prototype of Methyl Mercury Contamination Monitoring System based on Internet of Things in the Jambi Batanghari River

monitoring results are following the standard of

use/consumption. In addition to assisting the Sumatra

VI River Basin in monitoring water quality, the

designed technology is expected to assist several

tasks, including a) Helping to collect water quality

data, identifying potential sources of pollution and

pollution load; b) Maintain long records of water

quality, which can be read in real-time. As for the

technology built in this study, monitoring methyl

mercury / Hg contamination can be done by mobile

using a web-based application. The Mercury

Contamination Monitoring Application interface

development results are as shown in figure 3 and so

on.

Figure 3. Login page of the Batanghari River Mercury

Contamination Monitoring Application

Figure 4. Dashboard page of the Batanghari River Mercury

Contamination Monitoring Application

Figure 5. Mercury Contamination Monitoring Page, pH,

and Turbidity of Batanghari River Water

Figure 6. List of Placement of Mercury Contamination

Monitoring Tool in Batanghari River

Figure 7. Report page of the Batanghari River Mercury

Contamination Monitoring Application

4 CONCLUSIONS

Methyl mercury / Hg contamination monitoring

system based on the Internet of Things (IoT) using the

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B accompanied by a Water

Electrode, pH Electrode Sensor, and a Gravity

Analog TDS Sensor. The choice of electrolysis-based

methyl mercury module is due to the availability of

sophisticated sensors to read accurately digital data

on mercury content which is very expensive and not

marketed freely, based on previous research

conducted by Maulana (Maulana, 2017) regarding the

Design of Drinking Water Quality Detection Devices

Using Electrolysis and Conductivity, The electrolysis

method used as a whole work well. However, there

are still errors with an average value of 2.32%. The

mercury contamination monitoring tool will produce

data output in a summary of the mercury

contamination category, pH, and water turbidity

level. Then the output generated in real-time is sent

via the Module Shield Sim800 GSM component to a

server computer and can be monitored through the

Methyl Mercury / Hg Contamination Monitoring

Application.

ICoSTE 2020 - the International Conference on Science, Technology, and Environment (ICoSTE)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author thanks the Ministry of Research,

Technology, and Innovation Research Agency for

funding through the Beginner Lecturer Research

2020.

REFERENCES

Decree of the Minister of Public Works Number 51 / KPTS

/ M / 2012 Concerning Pola Pengelolaan Sumber Daya

Air Wilayah Sungai Batanghari.

Kalpana, M.B., 2016. Online Monitoring of Water Quality

Using. International Journal of Innovative Technology

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Maulana, I, 2017, Perancangan Alat Pendeteksi Kualitas

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Natarajan, S, 2014, Raspberry Pi Based Liquid Flow

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Prototype of Methyl Mercury Contamination Monitoring System based on Internet of Things in the Jambi Batanghari River