Industrial - Bachelor
DamSense is a solar-powered floating platform that monitors and protects farm dams and ponds. Dual-depth sensors track water health in real time, automatically running subsurface aeration to help prevent toxic algal blooms without chemicals. Serviced entirely from the bank and linked to an app, DamSense keeps water healthier while reducing labour and risk.
Farm dams supply stock water, irrigation and wash-down, yet most are managed by eye — scum, odour and blocked filters. When a bloom appears, the usual response is copper or aluminium-based dosing, which treats the symptom, can release toxins from ruptured cells, and loses effectiveness as copper builds up in sediment.
Five semi-structured interviews with an infrastructure manager, veterinarians, an environmental manager and a process supervisor were triangulated with five archival product videos and a benchmark of 15 products across eight criteria (ethics approval #11424). Every source told the same story: dosing is reactive, detection relies on proxy signs, and responsibility for water quality is split with no shared system.
Just because we tested it two weeks ago and it was fine doesn’t mean it hasn’t exploded now.
Veterinarian, QLD
Eventually I said to the vets… are you sure this isn’t causing some sort of toxicity issue in the pigs.
Infrastructure manager, QLD
The best non-chemical options each solve only part of the problem. The handheld probe is accurate but manual. The floating wetland is costly at farm scale. The sub-surface aerator works, but runs continuously with no feedback, and servicing means getting wet. Nothing on the market both measures a farm dam and acts on what it measures.
Affordable, proven alternatives sized for the cost, power and labour limits of a working farm dam.
Link sensing directly to treatment, triggered by measured conditions against NHMRC thresholds.
Durable sensors that stay clean in the field, so farmers aren’t waiting for scum and smell.
DamSense is a floating aeration and dual-depth monitoring platform for Australian farm dams. It senses the water from surface to floor, aerates only when the dam needs it, and cleans its own sensors — and every service task is done from the bank.
The 1.2 m lily-pad platform uses custom rotomoulded HDPE floats and a CNC-routed HDPE deck, with anodised aluminium canopy posts and 316 stainless brackets. Dark and medium green, black and Colorbond Surfmist let it sit naturally in rural Australia.
Luke is an Industrial Designer driven by practical innovation that protects Australia’s natural environments and develops environmental design. He is passionate about water health, sustainability and environmental technology, combining user-centred design, technical problem-solving and 3D visualisation to create real-world solutions that help people care for the land and water they depend on.
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