A new Digital Technology Supercluster has signed a Master Project Agreement to proceed with the $4.65 million Fresh Water Data Commons (FWDC) Project. The project will develop a balanced private-public water monitoring platform that will allow others to contribute and access the data.
Carl Data Solutions is leading the consortium that includes Astra Smart Systems, Genome BC, i4C Innovation, Living Lakes Canada, Microsoft, Teck Resources Limited, and the University of Victoria.
“The platform and the technology developed for the Fresh Water Data Commons will offer a technological tool to help every part of Canada, and the world, use data to protect water, people, ecosystems, and the economy as the demand for fresh water continues to rise,” said Pilar Portela, project lead for the FWDC.
The project will be located in the Columbia Basin in southeastern British Columbia. The region presents a diverse set of data types and monitoring conditions owing to varied geographies ranging from remote areas to locations with large industrial users of water. Monitoring water is essential to understand and characterize challenges and collecting regional data can provide a real-time view of what’s happening, as well as help to forecast, plan, and predict.
Data, monitoring, and water management systems from municipalities, industry, regulators, and local communities will be connected and the information will be stored centrally in the cloud. Existing data will be supplemented with real-time data collected through a network of low-power sensors across the project area. Sensors will measure water quantity, quality, flow and precipitation. Biomonitoring will collect data that will build an understanding of the relationship between water quality and microorganisms with active industry. These insights will help us to understand and mitigate risks associated with the regional watersheds.
