Protecting Our Precious Natural Heritage
Water, undeniably, is the planet’s most valuable resource. Water plays a vital role in human survival, with individuals consuming approximately four litres daily; its significance extends beyond sustaining life, also impacting agriculture and global commerce.
As Ontario’s largest municipal drinking water and wastewater services provider, OCWA strives to be a reliable partner in ensuring clean water and sustainable solutions for all communities. The company provides water and wastewater treatment services to a diverse range of clients across Ontario, Canada, including municipal, Indigenous, and industrial organizations that serve over 750 customer facilities.
OCWA’s municipal clients span a significant range, from populations as large as 1.5 million in the Area of Peel to small as 2,400 in Moose Factory, a community situated in Northern Ontario. This diverse scope of expertise enables the organization to address any issues that may arise, regardless of the size or type of treatment process within the province. As a result of its consistent efforts, the company has consistently expanded its municipal customer base each year for the past three decades.
In May 2000, Canada’s authorities enforced more stringent measures to track water quality, prompting the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA) to develop a bespoke remote monitoring system. Notably, the internally developed solution had successfully met the company’s needs for more than two decades. By the early 2020s, the company sought to undergo a thorough modernization process. OCWA had three objectives. Converting disparate data from multiple plant species into a uniform format? One way to eliminate time-consuming compliance reporting was to reduce the frequency of community disruptions that induced gaps in information. Additionally, OCWA took pride in expanding its service offerings to significantly enhance value for customers.
Going the space
The Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA) successfully achieved its goals leveraging a cutting-edge industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solution built on the robust foundation of Cisco technology. Rethemed purposes operating on routers seamlessly reformat each plant’s data into a standardized format, thereby rendering expensive custom work a relic of the past, as reports tailored to one facility effortlessly adapt for use across all facilities. According to Ciprian Panfilie, Director of Operational Methods at OCWA, “Standardizing monitoring in this way is incredibly efficient.” To streamline services province-wide, we created clusters of specialized teams serving all facilities, significantly enhancing our operational efficiency.
To ensure seamless operations, the solution guarantees OCWA’s compliance with regulatory requirements, thereby minimizing the risk of community outages and potential information disruptions. When a hyperlink connecting a facility to OCWA’s workplaces experiences downtime, the router stores the information locally and automatically transfers it to the cloud once connectivity is re-established. Panfilie noted that despite testing numerous alternatives, only Cisco’s solution proved to function seamlessly.
As part of its ongoing efforts to support growing businesses, Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA) has expanded its offerings by introducing a cutting-edge power management solution to its portfolio. Routers provide a typical framework for power management, offering baseline establishment, forecast capabilities, and real-time control over energy distribution. One area of service growth lies in the implementation of real-time asset efficiency monitoring and predictive maintenance capabilities using LORAWAN sensors and gateways, enabling clients to optimize their operations and reduce downtime.
Trying forward
Cisco’s industrial internet of things (IoT) solution has been successfully implemented in more than 165 facilities monitored by the Ontario Clean Water Agency, with this number continuing to grow. By 2030, the company plans to roll out its IoT solution across a significant proportion of its remote facilities, while also investigating various long-term options. Preliminary pilot tests notwithstanding, innovative machine learning applications can potentially be integrated onto Cisco routers to anticipate and proactively resolve issues before they arise, such as predicting and mitigating out-of-spec alterations in wastewater effluent quality.
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