The logistics of high-frequency water sampling technology required in many municipalities to monitor and safeguard community water supplies have been simplified by custom drone designer Reign Maker. A new drone-enabled water sampling and sensor data tracking system has been launched to reduce the time of water sample collection by 75%.

Conventional water sampling techniques are time-consuming, labor-intensive, dependent on the use of manned boats and prone to human error. A more accurate and timely snapshot of water quality is delivered by Nixie, a drone engineered to transport U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved water sampling bottles and to dive 2 ft into waters with up to 5 knots of current. This capability allows Nixie to exceed federal EPA guidelines, ensuring that it does not merely collect the top layer of the water.

According to Reign Maker, each sample can be collected and returned within less than three minutes. An accompanying app tracks the GPS coordinates at which each sample is retrieved so that subsequent samples can be obtained from the exact same places.

By increasing the frequency of water sampling and data collection, the platform reduces sampling costs for government agencies and water utilities.