Nov 17 2016
Today, Ericsson and Rogers Communications announced their participation in the City of Ottawa's Innovation Pilot Program with a "Connected Water" solution that supports an early detection system for water quality testing. The pilot will leverage a combination of Internet of Things (IoT), cloud and LTE mobile broadband technologies to gather real-time data that City staff can use to better predict, prevent and respond to potential issues related to water quality, including cleanliness and abnormal temperatures.
This Connected Water solution is the first of its kind in Canada and will complement the City of Ottawa's current water monitoring program, which includes approximately 80,000 annual water quality tests for a network of rivers and streams roughly spanning 4,500 kilometres. The sensors are capable of collecting data over a widespread area of the City's watershed system, which can help City staff with improving the efficiencies of their manual testing. In addition to the City, the Rideau Valley, South Nation and Mississippi Valley Conservation Authorities are also participating in the pilot test.
"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" said Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson. "We're thrilled to participate in this pilot with Ericsson and Rogers, and are hopeful the results will validate how Internet of Things technology can reinforce our current municipal water testing processes."
The City of Ottawa program will leverage sensors to access data for real-time monitoring and identification of water quality issues. City employees will use this data to provide feedback to Ericsson and Rogers regarding the performance of the Connected Water solution and validate the data generated against existing water testing protocols that are currently in use by the City.
"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, SVP, Products and Solutions, Enterprise Business Unit, Rogers. "Our work with Ericsson and the City is part of our larger focus to help cities and communities across Canada implement products and solutions that will better connect their resources, infrastructure and people."
"Programs similar to this pilot have proven to be extremely effective in remotely monitoring water quality, but they have typically been too expensive to be deployed extensively for a big city like Ottawa," said Graham Osborne, President, Ericsson Canada. "We believe this Connected Water solution is a big step forward in providing government bodies with a cost-effective and efficient technology to monitor a natural resource as crucial as our local rivers and streams."
Rogers has been providing connected solutions to Canadian businesses since 2008, and leads the IoT marketplace in Canada with more than 1.7 million M2M and IoT connections. Rogers has recently introduced four IoT 'as a Service' solutions over the past year, including Food Safety, Farm & Food Monitoring and Level Monitoring, in addition to its portfolio of other IoT solutions.