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Water’s Next 2019 Finalists Announced

Water Canada’s annual Water’s Next awards program honours the incredible achievements and ideas of individuals and companies that successfully work to make a positive change to water in our country and abroad.

This year we received 48 nominations. Drawing on the advice of the esteemed group of water experts who make up the Water’s Next Selection Committee, Water Canada will announce the 2019 award winners at the Water’s Next Awards Gala on May 30th at the Blue Mountain Resort in Georgian Bay as part of the 10th annual Canadian Water Summit. Water Canada will also share their stories in the July/August issue of the magazine.

The finalists in 11 categories are as follows:

Category: People – Government

  1. Barry Orr, City of London: Barry has been advocating for standards and regulations at the local, national, and international level around the disposal of trash such as wipes, personal care products, and dental floss in toilets.
  2. John Zhang, Ontario Clean Water Agency: John has been using a collaborative approach that brings together key stakeholders to improve the functionality of water and wastewater facilities.
  3. Indra Maharjan, Ontario Clean Water Agency: Indra successfully developed an energy program on behalf of OCWA for municipal clients. The program led to over 150 energy efficiency upgrades, which resulted in significant energy and GHG savings.

Category: People – Business

  1. Art Dunham, Vital Volunteers: Art has created a cloud-based software that preforms the core administrative functions that support non-profit organizations, particularly embryo-sized associations that have insufficient money, time, or volunteers.
  2. Lynda Margaret Smithard, McCue Contracting: Lynda and her engineering team successfully removed dissolved Antimony, Chromium, and Copper at the bench scale using a chemical precipitation program not typically considered a viable treatment method for those parameters.
  3. Mark Marsolais, Birch Bark Coffee Company: A portion of every sale of coffee goes directly to addressing and solving water issues.
  4. Lauren Smith, Polygone: The company has developed a technology that filters microplastics in water.
  5. Evan Pilkington, blueW: Evan created blueW to promote the benefits of drinking municipally treated and delivered tap water while reducing single-use plastic.

Category: People – NGO

  1. Chitra Gowda, Conservation Ontario: Chitra is the source water protection lead at Conservation Ontario and she ensures that actions are taken to protect drinking water sources in communities across Ontario.
  2. Emma Wattie, Atlantic Water Network: Emma has been instrumental in introducing a suite of supports that have transformed how water monitoring and restoration is carried out in Atlantic Canada.
  3. Isabelle-Anouk Bourduas, AquaHacking: Isabelle-Anouk is tackling softwater issues in Canada through the AquaHacking challenge, which inspires young professionals to create innovative solutions.

Category: People – Academic

  1. Rehan Sadiq, University of British Columbia: With his research, Rehan is transforming the way small- to medium-sized communities are managing their water supplies.
  2. Julia Baird, Brock University: Julia draws on diverse disciplines needed to tackle complex water resource governance problems and identify innovative solutions.
  3. Claire Oswald, Ryerson University: Claire is spearheading a pilot project to significantly reduce road salt usage on Ryerson University’s campus. She has also been communicating the need for other large land owners to start their own demonstrations.

Category: People – Young Professional

  1. Palash Ranjan Sanyal, University of Saskatchewan: Palash raises awareness about the real cost of water. He also increases knowledge and enables efficient practices among urban pro-poor and remote communities.
  2. Thouheed Abdul Gaffoor, EMAGIN: Thouheed co-founded EMAGIN, an artificial intelligence company that optimises processes with the water sector and beyond.
  3. Chad Midnight, 5 Gallon Water Gravity Supply System: Chad has been leading the charge in seeking exposure for the 5 Gallon Water Gravity Supply System to aid those in water scarce and disaster areas.

Category: Projects and Technologies – Drinking Water

  1. Eramosa Engineering Inc.: Eramosa Engineering Inc.’s e. RIS provides tools that help organize and analyze data.
  2. Acuva Technologies Inc.: Acuva offers systems that deliver microbial disinfection to ensure safe drinking water.
  3. EMAGIN: The company’s technology works with human operators to provide predictive analytics to help industries, utilities, and cities reduce their water, energy, and chemical use.
  4. AWN Nanotech: AWN Nanotech has developed a nanotextile-based platform that can produce water from the atmosphere.
  5. 5 Gallon Water Gravity Supply System: The company aims to learn more about Earth’s growing water crisis and have active involvement in organizations ensuring men, women, children have dependable drinking sources.
  6. Tecta-PDS: With its technology, the company aims to reduce barriers to water sampling and analysis in First Nations and remote communities.
  7. PurePac: The company aims to make water accessible using a compact treatment system or using water bags with 90 per cent less plastic in its packaging per liter of water compared to water sold in bottles.
  8. blueW: This project aims to improve health, reduce plastics, cut costs, and bring communities together by making municipal tap water more accessible alternative to bottled water.
  9. Water First Internship Program: This program addresses the shortage of operators in First Nations communities by training primarily young, local Indigenous adults to become certified water treatment plant operators.

Category: Projects and Technologies – Wastewater

  1. Eramosa Engineering Inc.: The company provides e.RIS, which has tools for organizing and analyzing data from all data sets in municipal water systems.
  2. Lystek International Inc.: The company’s Mobile THP provides a range of solutions for biosolids and organics management.
  3. Waterhound Analytics: The company’s idea enables companies, municipalities, and communities to reduce their extraction of freshwater from local water sources.
  4. BQE Water: The company offers Selen-IX™, an active process technology developed to provide the mining industry with a solution to manage selenium.
  5. EMAGIN: The company’s technology works with human operators to provide predictive analytics to help industries, utilities, and cities reduce their water, energy, and chemical use.
  6. ClinnUp: The company provides a technology that removes nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, from municipal and industrial wastewater.
  7. Mircon Waste Technologies: The company has developed an on-site treatment system for licensed cannabis producers that aims to denature active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Category: Projects and Technologies – Stormwater

  1. Rain It In: Rain It In challenges college and university students in Ontario to form multidisciplinary teams and create innovative solutions that will mitigate the impacts of intense rainfall events in their communities.
  2. Enhanced Stormwater Management Ponds: The project answers the following question: how can water quality control in stormwater management (SWM) ponds be enhanced year-round through targeted vegetation plantings?
  3. EnviroPod: The company has developed a solution that reduces the amount of plastic that ends up in waterbodies.

Category: Projects and Technologies – Conveyance

  1. BlueIQ software: The software helps reduce energy consumption in water distribution systems.
  2. Waterhound Analytics: The company’s idea enables companies, municipalities, and communities to reduce their extraction of freshwater from local water sources.
  3. Toronto Water: Toronto Water has started taking steps to implement a Smart Water Network on every aspect of its infrastructure – from delivery and consumption to treatment and reclamation.

Category: Projects and Technologies – Water Resources

  1. Eddy Solutions: The company provides a solution that helps protect against the risk of water damage and the waste of water.
  2. Canada’s Great Water Adventure: The project aims to teach youth about the importance of protecting and caring for water.
  3. Operator Certification Portal: The key objective of the project is to address demands from the operators, utilities, and Alberta Environment and Parks for an efficient, effective and modernized certification processes.
  4. Rain It In: Rain It In challenges college and university students in Ontario to form multidisciplinary teams and create innovative solutions that will mitigate the impacts of intense rainfall events in their communities.
  5. LWR System: This technology aims to economically capture and concentrate valuable nutrients from manure, while recycling up to 75 per cent of it back into clean, potable water.

Category: Projects and Technologies – Early Adoption

  1. Eddy Solutions: The company provides a solution that helps protect against the risk of water damage and the waste of water.
  2. Environmental Operators Certification Program (EOCP): Engineers at the Ministries of Health and Environment, along with a technical committee of the EOCP, initiated the development of a new set of classification models to assess the complexity of water treatment and distribution systems.
  3. Toronto Water: Toronto Water has started taking steps to implement a Smart Water Network on every aspect of its infrastructure – from delivery and consumption to treatment and reclamation.
  4. SanEcoTec Ltd.: The company’s AVIVE technology aims to improve water management in produce, ornamental, and cannabis growing operations.
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