Apr 08, 2015

In the United States alone, there are over 4,000 miles of canals and more than 3.5 million miles of streams and rivers, according to The American Canal Society and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, the EPA has estimated that about 15 percent of all cropland in the U.S. is irrigated. What this all adds up to is a lot of waterways that need to overseen and managed in some capacity.

Being able to keep an eye on all of these water systems is critical all year round, but especially so in spring. Melting snow combined with sometimes heavy rainfall can lead to flooding across the Northern Hemisphere, with the National Weather Service noting that around half of the U.S. – including major cities like Boston, New York City, Chicago, St. Louis and Jacksonville, Florida – is at risk of flooding in 2015. Poorly maintained irrigation systems and overflowing canals and rivers can damage buildings, ruin crops and cause millions of dollars in damages.

In order to make sure waterways are maintained properly and adequately overseen, turn to a wireless camera system. By adopting such a solution, expect to see the following benefits:

1) More effective than manual oversight
When it comes to the maintenance and monitoring of river levels or man-made water networks, most oversight agencies and organizations opt for manual methods. This means that one or a team of people are charged with the upkeep and maintenance of sometimes hundreds of miles of canals or irrigation systems. This often leads to problems going undetected, which is a reality many communities in the American West are now facing regarding the irrigation networks they rely on for agriculture, the Indian Country Today Media Network reported.

By instead opting for a wireless irrigation oversight solution, these issues can be almost completely avoided. Video monitoring technology makes it easy for one person or a small team to keep tabs on hundreds of miles of canals or riverways, as it eliminates the need for someone to physically be present at a site to spot an issue. Armed with a wireless video network, irrigation network oversight officials can be certain that any problems that do arise will be quickly spotted and dealt with accordingly.

2) Ideal for flood monitoring
In a matter of minutes, a river or canal can overflow its banks and cause severe damage. According to LiveScience, flash floods typically form only a few hours after heavy rain or another similar weather event, and they can bring with them fast-rushing waterstrong enough to move 250-ton boulders.

When waterways are monitored using wireless video, however, some of the damages caused by flooding can be mitigated. With such a system in place, authorities can see exactly when flooding conditions are beginning to arise and then immediately notify area residents to tell them to get out of the way. This is a major reason why The Royal Irrigation Department of Thailand installed a wireless mesh network in the Chao Phraya River Basin.

Stay tuned for part two of this series, where we will discuss three other key benefits of wireless video monitoring for river, canal and irrigation network monitoring.