Isaac Liu¹ and Jonathan Sahagun², ¹USA, ²California State Polytechnic University, USA

Global water scarcity continues to threaten both urban and rural communities, especially where clean infrastructure is limited [1]. This paper presents a smart, solar-powered, rainwater collection system that captures rainfall before contamination and monitors its quality in real time. The design features a VL53L4CD time-of-flight distance sensor for water-level detection, an analog turbidity sensor for clarity assessment, and an ESP32-S3 microcontroller that transmits data to Firebase for mobile visualization. Power is supplied by a 5 V solar panel charging a 3.7 V battery, ensuring off-grid operation. Experimental results confirmed high accuracy (MAE = 0.63 cm, R² = 0.997) across key measurements. Limitations such as small battery size and Wi-Fi dependency can be addressed with improved power management and alternate connectivity. The proposed system provides a scalable, eco-friendly solution to clean water collection, empowering sustainable living in underserved regions worldwide [2].

Rain barrel, Eco Friendly, Solar-Power, Artificial Intelligence, IoT