eleven-x And Region Of Waterloo Partner For Canada's First Smart City Water Monitoring Project Utilizing LoRaWAN Network

By Mark Hall

eleven-x, operator of Canada’s first and only coast-to-coast LoRaWAN Low Power Wide Area Network, is pleased to announce a new Smart City development project with the Region of Waterloo.

The first IoT application of its kind in Canada, the Region of Waterloo and eleven-x are teaming up to test the real-time automated data collection from the Region’s water supply production and monitoring wells. eleven-x’s next generation network enables connectivity with low cost devices that could provide the Region with real-time communication of the status of key parameters for managing the Region’s primary water supply sources.

About 75% of the water supply for the Region is derived from groundwater through a system of 132 large production wells extracting water from local sand, gravel and rock aquifers.  The Region automatically captures data from a network of 585 monitoring wells to assess any impacts and provide information to manage its water supply sources.  However, the data is only collected manually several times over the course of a year which results in delays in getting status information for each of the supply wells. These delays restrict the decision-making ability of the Region in terms of managing its water supply sources.

eleven-x is integrating their next generation network to connect with data logging devices to enable automated measuring and tracking of well water levels and temperature from select production and monitoring wells. Water data will be collected and communicated automatically on an hourly basis. Additionally, a newly added capability of event-driven real-time alerts based on pre-determined parameters, such as significant level fluctuations, will also be tested.

According to Eric Hodgins, Manager, Hydrogeology and Source Water at Region of Waterloo, “The value we gain in having well water data at our finger tips is tremendous for us in terms of decision-making. The technology may allow us to connect our wells directly with our water operations management system and give us the ability to advance the way we monitor and manage this crucial resource”.

“Real-time updates on our wells will give us a better understanding of what is happening with our water supply sources and could really improve this key service we provide to the residents of our Region. The opportunity to reduce our costs is a real bonus,” said Nancy Kodousek, Director, Water Services at Region of Waterloo.

Dan Mathers, Chairman and Co-Founder of eleven-x, said “IoT applications have the potential to help organizations with getting accurate and timely data while greatly improving the costs associated with capturing that data. For the Region of Waterloo, the connectivity our network enables for real-time well water data collection could have an immensely positive impact for them.”

Launched late last year, eleven-x provides a LoRaWAN based carrier grade network that enables low cost connectivity and data communications for IoT applications. In addition to the deployment with the Region of Waterloo, the company currently also has other pilots underway enables Smart City initiatives such as Smart Parking and Smart Street Lighting, as well as Industrial and Enterprise IoT applications such as Smart Metering, Asset Monitoring, Smart Buildings and Smart Agriculture.

About The Region of Waterloo
The Region of Waterloo provides more than 60 per cent of municipal services to a growing population of 570,000 people. We are committed to creating an inclusive, thriving and sustainable community through innovative leadership and a range of services such as public health, social services, planning, heritage, water supply, regional roads, waste management, ambulance service, rural libraries, public transit, community housing, emergency planning, Provincial Offences Courts and airport services.

About eleven-x
eleven-x is a network operator enabling the Internet of Things. Our purpose-built low power wide area network is the first of its kind in Canada, providing connectivity for a wide variety of sensors and applications. Our next generation network enables customers in the Private and Public sectors to efficiently and cost effectively manage assets, create and maintain Smart Cities, and realize environmental sustainability. For more information, visit eleven-x.com.

LoRaWAN mark is used under license from the LoRa Alliance.