Human activities alter salt concentration of water sources such as lakes, ponds, wetlands and streams, which will have detrimental impacts on water quality and aquatic ecosystems. We developed electrical conductivity (EC)–based sensors to measure salt concentrations in water bodies. We calibrated and validated sensors using standard sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions. Furthermore, we validated sensors in a laboratory (using standard solutions) and field settings. The errors for the laboratory validation varied from 0 to 13% with an average of 6%. We deployed 35 sensors in the Madison County, Illinois, USA and measured high-resolution (15 min) salt concentration for 6 months (December, 2018 to May, 2019) in water bodies in urban stream, parking lot drain, road-side drain, and creek. The average errors between sensor and field measurements were 11% for sensor field validation. Sensors were able to predict salt concentrations in the field settings within a precision level required to quantify salt concentration in water bodies. Therefore, the study would be helpful to monitor the change in salt concentrations in water sources as an impact of human activities benefiting water managers, researchers, and agencies working on water quality and ecosystems.

人类活动会改变湖泊，池塘，湿地和溪流等水源的盐分浓度，这将对水质和水生生态系统产生不利影响。我们开发了基于电导率（EC）的传感器来测量水体中的盐浓度。我们使用标准氯化钠（NaCl）溶液对传感器进行了校准和验证。此外，我们在实验室（使用标准解决方案）和现场设置中对传感器进行了验证。实验室验证的误差范围从0％到13％不等，平均为6％。我们在美国伊利诺伊州的麦迪逊县部署了35个传感器，并在城市溪流，停车场排水口，路边排水口的水体中测量了6个月（2018年12月至2019年5月）的高分辨率（15分钟）盐浓度和小河。对于传感器现场验证，传感器和现场测量之间的平均误差为11％。传感器能够在量化水体中盐浓度所需的精确度范围内预测田间设置中的盐浓度。因此，这项研究将有助于监测水资源盐浓度的变化，将其作为人类活动的影响，有益于从事水质和生态系统工作的水管理人员，研究人员和机构。