Automated Drip-Irrigation System

Campus landscapers at Purdue were facing a major problem that was costing the university a lot of money and wasting their valuable time. They had to manually water tens of gardens around campus, due to a lack of sprinkler infrastructure in garden beds. This problem motivated us to find a solution and create a self-sustaining drip irrigation system that would provide an automatic water supply directly to plants in gardens without any input from landscapers.

Problem Statement
Purdue was losing hundreds of gallons of water annually due to a lack of any water recycling infrastructure. Our goal was to solve this problem by building greenhouses on campus rooftops and leveraging recycled water to maintain them.

Challenges
Our biggest challenge was to make the system self-sustaining, which meant that it had to be powered without relying on an external power source or water supply. Additionally, we had to ensure that the system was durable enough to withstand harsh weather conditions and heavy foot traffic, as the garden beds were subjected to these conditions on a regular basis.

Arduino Code
The code for the Arduino program was written in C++ and used the library for the real-time clock DS3231 to track the time. The code used an if statement to compare the current time to the set time for watering and turn on the water dispenser if it matched. We also added code to check the water level in the basin and turn off the dispenser if the water level fell below a certain threshold to conserve water and prevent over-watering.

Success
Our drip irrigation system was a huge success. It solved the problem of water waste and saved time for the gardening staff, while also improving the overall health of the garden beds on campus. The plants were now being watered on a regular basis and were thriving, which improved the appearance of the campus. The system was praised for its ease of use and automatic nature and was well received by students and faculty, who appreciated the effort to make the campus more sustainable and environmentally conscious.

Conclusion
In conclusion, our drip irrigation system was a solution to a problem that was plaguing Purdue for years. The system was designed to be self-sustaining and durable, and the results speak for themselves. The garden beds on campus are now thriving and the gardening staff has more time to focus on other tasks. This project set a precedent for future sustainability initiatives on campus and showed that it's possible to make a positive impact while solving real-world problems.