Water Canada – June 5, 2020
Researchers at UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering are launching a community-focused research program as they seek to assess the performance of water utilities and municipalities across the Okanagan Valley.
The project, funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), will serve as a foundation for analyzing the drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services for several communities across the Okanagan region.
“Although all the systems are independent, they all face the similar challenges when it comes to rapid population growth, aging infrastructure and climate change,” explains Rehan Sadiq, professor of civil engineering and lead researcher on the project. “Our goal is to develop a data-sharing platform, assessment tools and benchmarking strategies through a ‘one water approach’ to enable continuous monitoring and improvements to the systems.”
The four-phase project will investigate state-of-the-art practices in urban water management. At the same time, researchers will identify and develop performance indicators, performance assessment and benchmarking framework, and create a portal for information analysis, sharing and learning.