Innovative, cloud-based remote monitoring
After the Bimose Tribal Council secured funding through Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), it reached out to OCWA to assess the two water treatment plants and recommend a solution that would help operators remotely monitor water quality.
Based on its assessment, OCWA recommended a mobile monitoring system that connects to the existing supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and uploads data to a cloud-based application. This “Internet of Things” (IoT)-based solution enables operators to access data remotely and track changes in plant operations so that they can identify and respond to issues more quickly.
“We have had a great experience working with OCWA’s staff,” Strachan says. “They did a great job at understanding our needs for the project and worked collaboratively with us to develop customized solutions for each water treatment plant.”
In the first phase of the project, OCWA led the installation and set-up of the IoT solution at the water treatment plants in Ochiichagwe’Babigo’Ining Ojibway Nation and Eagle Lake First Nation. OCWA also worked with the communities to optimize the systems after they went live in September 2017 and trained the operators until they were comfortable using the new technology independently.
“We’re very happy with OCWA’s solution. The user interface provides our operators with data in a consistent way for multiple water treatment plants,” Strachan says. “This is valuable for us since our staff manage 11 water treatment plants. Within just a few months of starting the pilot project, we decided to install the remote monitoring system at four more treatment plants located in Iskatewizaagegan First Nation, Wabaseemoong Independent First Nation, Wabauskang First Nation and Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation.”