Saskatchewan invests in remote monitoring for rural water treatment facilities

REGINA – The Government of Saskatchewan is putting $1.9 million towards remote monitoring technology for rural water treatment facilities.

The 10 projects will go through the Saskatchewan Advantage Innovation Fund (SAIF) and the Agtech Growth Fund (AGF), run under the auspices of the Innovation Saskatchewan government agency.

One of the projects will be led by Saskatoon-based Delco Water, which is working with rural municipalities and First Nations, including the Meadow Lake Tribal Council, to develop and pilot remote sensing technologies.

“These facilities are complex. Having the ability to not only capture the data in real-time but also use this data to drive positive outcomes will help support the safe and reliable delivery of water to the communities served,” Delco Water vice-president Scott Marchinko said in a statement.

“Real-time remote monitoring will allow us to proactively maintain our systems and minimize downtime,” Meadow Lake Tribal Council technical services manager Sulaiman Oggu added.

Intake periods for both SAIF and the AGF are held twice per year.   

Funding decisions have been made for the fall intake of 2021 and spring intake of 2022. The non-repayable grants that have been committed to companies in the two intakes are listed below:

• Delco Water, a Division of Delco Automation, to develop a platform to remotely monitor the health of water treatment facilities in real-time ($212,000).
• Mera Development Corp. to develop a common data platform between grain farmers and processors, providing a single-point-of-access to information related to grain production, storage and processing ($150,000).
• Environmental Material Science Inc for a novel soil moisture and salinity monitoring solution using a new sensor technology, allowing producers and agronomists to monitor soil in their fields continuously and cost effectively ($54,000).
• RMD Engineering Inc. to develop a 3D bioprinter that will be capable of printing complex human tissues and test them for tensile strength post-printing ($250,000).
• Teal Electrification Systems for developing a medium duty electric vehicle capable of peak performance during extreme cold temperatures for urban commercial operations ($185,000).
• Adaptive Agriculture Solutions Inc. to develop a connected underground mine ventilation monitoring system ($191,000).
• Evolution Growers for developing an integrated energy system that will enable greenhouses to operate all-year round in cold climates, using various sources of renewable energy (wind, solar, geothermal, battery storage) ($80,000).
• Ground Truth Ag for developing a real-time grain grading system that will be installed directly onto a combine harvester to analyze grain quality as crops are being harvested ($150,000).
• Croptimistic Technology Inc. to develop an autonomous soil sampling system using next generation spectroscopy technology ($450,000).
• Bitstrata Systems Inc to develop a monitoring solution that will provide accurate real-time yield data during harvesting ($250,000).