Urban Waterz

Abstract

Reliable access to water is a fundamental requirement for households and busi nesses, particularly in urban areas where municipal water supply is irregular or insufficient. In many such localities, residents depend on water tankers and overhead storage tanks. Traditional processes for ordering water are manual: cus tomers typically place orders via phone calls or messaging apps, track deliveries informally, and monitor tank levels by guesswork. This results in uncertainty, service delays, and inefficient resource utilization. This final year project presents Urban Waterz, an IoT-enabled water tank monitoring and tanker dispatch sys tem. Urban Waterz integrates four main subsystems: An ESP32 IoT node with ultrasonic and DHT sensors monitors tank level and environmental conditions. A Node.js/Express backend with MongoDB and Socket.IO handles storage and real-time communication. An Expo React Native app provides role-based inter faces for customers and drivers, while a React web app offers admin dashboards for user, order, and driver management, along with system analytics. Sensor readings from the IoT node are sent securely to AWS IoT Core using MQTT. The backend subscribes to these messages, applies a calibration-based formula to compute the water tank level as a percentage, and stores the result in a dedicated IoT data collection. Customers can view real-time tank level and historical usage trends, and can place orders for large or small tankers and water bottles through the mobile application. Admins use a web dashboard to manage customers, drivers, and orders, with features such as driver assignment, driver queues, user blocking, and statistics. Drivers receive assigned orders, update statuses, and share their location via the driver app. Socket.IO ensures that order status, driver status, and driver location updates propagate in real time to all stakeholders. The project demonstrates how a full stack architecture can unify physical sensing and logistical operations into one coherent platform. The system has been de signed with a modular architecture using well-structured models and services, making it extensible for future features such as payment integration, predictive analytics, and multi-tenant support. The evaluation indicates that Urban Waterz improves visibility, coordination, and user experience compared to traditional manual systems, and provides a solid foundation for real deployments in urban water management.