Introduction
The Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) mandates that all industrial and commercial establishments in India extracting significant amounts of groundwater must both secure a valid NOC and report groundwater usage regularly. This includes installation of observation wells (piezometers) and uploading of groundwater level data to the CGWA web portal. Manual reporting can be time-consuming and prone to errors, especially for large manufacturing sites.
Problem Statement
Tata Motor’s Lucknow plant specializes in the manufacture of a wide range of commercial vehicles. They have six borewells distributed across its large campus. They extract ground water for their industrial usage.
As per the CGWA mandate, they need to monitor ground water usage and upload their report to the government portal.
Image 1: Above image shows some of the borewells inside the campus
Previously, the groundwater level at each borewell was measured manually:
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- Measurement is done at Peizometer Borewell. It is a narrow diameter borehole drilled to the required depth. It is normally drilled at a small distance from the borewell Pump used to extract the water.
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- Service personnel visited each piezometer borewell, used a manual device to check water levels, and recorded the readings on paper.
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- The data was later manually entered into the system and uploaded to the CGWB portal.
Image 2: Above image shows piezometer borewell and the piezometer for manual measurement
Challenges
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- The manual process was labor-intensive, especially with borewells spread across remote parts of the campus.
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- High risk of errors, missed readings, and data manipulation.
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- Compliance with regulatory requirements became cumbersome.
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- Data entry was repetitive and inefficient.
Tata Motors sought an automated and reliable solution to streamline and improve the process.
The Solution
Sisai Technologies implemented an IoT-based real-time ground water level monitoring system for all six borewells at Tata Motors Lucknow.
Solution Infographics
Diagram 1: Above diagram shows solution infographic.
How It Works
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- Sensor Installation: Hydrostatic level sensors are placed in the piezometer borewells.
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- Data Collection: Sensors send readings to their respective transmitters.
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- Centralized Aggregation: The Ficus Weblogger device aggregates incoming data from all six borewells.
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- Automated Reporting: The daily data file (named as per Tata Motors template, timestamped) is automatically uploaded after 00:00 hours to the designated FTP server.
Core Solution Features
Hydrostatic Level Sensors (Piezometers): Installed in each borewell, these sensors measure water levels continuously and accurately.
Transmitters: Each sensor is connected to a surface transmitter that supplies power and relays data to the central device.
Ficus Weblogger (Edge Computing Device): Serves as the heart of the system. It receives SMS messages containing readings from each borewell, collates and formats the data, and generates a daily report file.
Sample Reading
timestamp,bw_name,bw_reading,bw_temp,bw_health
“20/12/21,11:22:56”,bw_04,6.15,21,Good
“20/12/21,12:24:18”,bw_04,6.12,21,Good
“20/12/21,13:26:32”,bw_04,6.09,21,Good
“20/12/21,13:50:33”,bw_04,6.09,21,Good
“20/12/21,14:52:47”,bw_04,6.06,21,Good
“20/12/21,15:27:37”,bw_05,10.64,22,Good
“20/12/21,15:30:01”,bw_05,10.64,21,Good
“20/12/21,16:32:16”,bw_05,10.78,21,Good
“20/12/21,16:53:37”,bw_03,49.95,25,Good
“20/12/21,16:56:24”,bw_03,49.95,24,Good
“20/12/21,16:53:37”,bw_03,49.95,25,Good
| Sr. No. | Field | Description |
| 1. | Time Stamp | Time stamp of data reading |
| 2. | Borewell Name | Name of borewell |
| 3. | Ground water level | Water level from the ground in meters. |
| 4. | Temperature | Ambient temperature. |
| 5. | Health | Overall ground water level health. |
Note:
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- There is no absolute value that defines “healthy” groundwater.
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- CGWB classifies groundwater as “Safe” if extraction is less than 70% of natural annual recharge in a given area.
Benefits Delivered
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- Automated collection eliminates manual errors and risk of data manipulation.
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- Direct, automated upload ensures adherence to regulatory mandates (CGWA/NOC requirements).
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- Continuous, detailed groundwater level tracking helps Tata Motors proactively manage water usage and sustainability goals.
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- Eliminates repetitive, error-prone manual tasks.
Field Installation
Image 4: Above image shows some field implementation photographs
Summary
Sisai Technologies’ IoT ground water monitoring system at Tata Motors Lucknow delivers real-time, accurate, and regulation-ready ground water data across all industrial borewells. The solution streamlines compliance, enhances data accuracy, and empowers proactive resource management—demonstrating the value of digital transformation for industrial sustainability and regulatory excellence.