The City of Ottawa is joining a pilot project with Ericsson and Rogers Communications to develop a “connected water” solution that will use the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud and LTE technologies to monitor and maintain the quality of the city’s watershed.
The initiative is designed to provide city staff with real-time data on any potential issues regarding cleanliness, quality or abnormal temperatures in Ottawa’s watershed and is meant to complement the city’s existing water quality testing practices. The idea is that once the IoT-connected sensors detect an issue, staff can verify any concern through its own standards of testing to determine if the threat is valid.
Data collected from the solution will be sent back to Rogers and Ericsson as feedback on the accuracy and benefits of its solution.
OBJ360 (Sponsored)
The value of an Algonquin College degree: Experiential learning, taught by industry experts
Zaahra Mehsen was three years into a biology degree at a local university when she realized she wanted to take a different path. “I realized that it’s not my thing,”
The Ottawa Hospital’s Campaign to Create Tomorrow enters important next phase
For Ginger Bertrand, some of her earliest childhood memories in Ottawa are centred around healthcare. “I grew up across the street from what was originally the General Hospital,” she explains,
Rogers is hoping its investments in IoT will result in big business and more efficient city operations.
“Hundreds of cities across Canada today rely on manual processes to maintain and deliver utilities. Internet of Things solutions can help municipalities like the City of Ottawa save time and resources while improving the accuracy of their processes,” said Charlie Wade, senior vice-president of products and solutions in Roger’s enterprise business unit in a statement.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson agreed, seeing IoT as an opportunity to improve water monitoring practices in the city.
“Having the ability to conduct real-time monitoring of key water quality indicators has the potential to advance the way we manage this natural resource” he said in a statement.
The City of Ottawa’s current water monitoring program conducts 80,000 annual tests on a network of rivers and streams that stretches nearly 4,500 kilometres.
