I need help with an arduino project

I am trying to use a flowmeter and an Arduino to detect leaks in a small watering system.
This can either be done using one flowmeter that detects a change in the normal rate of flow and closes a solenoid (to stop water flowing while there is a leak); or by comparing the rate of flow between two flowmeters (one at the start of the pipe and one at the end)- I'm not sure which solution would work best.

Finally I also need to send a text message to my phone when a leak is detected.

I have tried making this with an arduino uno and esp8266 and have also bought an arduino mkr1000 but haven't had much luck as I don't have a lot of experience with arduino, so I hope someone will be able to help me :)

This won't be implemented in a real garden so it only needs to work as a stand alone project.