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Vibrant landscape showcasing the dramatic cliffs along Lake Huron, highlighted by lush greenery and the deep blue waters under a clear sky.

 

AquaHacking Challenge

GREAT LAKES & ST LAWRENCE BASIN 2019

Between February and October 2019 young innovators were invited to put their skills to work, creating ground-breaking solutions to some of the most critical environmental freshwater issues

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ABOUT THE CHALLENGE

 

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Basin is the largest system of fresh surface water on earth, containing 21% of the world's freshwater. As such, it's the primary drinking water source for over 40 million people, and it would rank as the third largest economy in the world if it was a country.
Between February and October 2019, young innovative minds - from Ontario and Quebec- were invited to create groundbreaking solutions to critical environmental water issues affecting the Basin.

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THE WATER ISSUES TACKLED IN THIS CHALLENGE

  icon5_microplastic-400x400-1MICROPLASTICS

 np_wipes_4077259_FFFFFF   "FLUSHABLE" WIPES

 

np_frost-warning_457479_FFFFFF   ROAD SALTS

np_flood_1230121_FFFFFF   FLOODPROOF COMMUNITIES

  icon5-1MUNICIPAL WATER AND DRINKING FOUNTAINS

MEET THE FINALISTS

 

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THE GREEN STOP

The Green Stop became O'Land and offers eco-friendly services in outdoor urban settings - starting with access to free drinking water refill stations - to reduce plastic pollution and save our oceans.

 

Team:

Rachel L.Bellas, Brendan Carberry and Olabode Agagu

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CLEAN NATURE

Clean Nature offers an innovative solution for winter road maintenance, excessive de-icing salts application and chlorine water pollution. Their solution focuses on preventing excessive salt road use through an adapted artificial intelligence model (AIM) based on real-time local environmental, meteorological and road conditions.

 

Team:

Anne Carabin, Patricia Gomez
and Claudie Ratté-Fortin

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CLIN

Their solution captures microfibers after the stock air filter with an add-on well-adapted filter. By overlooking the current air filtration technologies and with a rigorous analysis of drying conditions (temperature, humidity, flow rate, pressure) it is feasible to develop adaptable dryer filters for microparticles.

 

Team:

Guilhem Aliaga, Francois-Xavier Teysseire,
Jean-Claude Chartrand, Valerie Boucher
and Cassandra Guerette

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SALT-ED

A user-friendly device combined with an eco-friendly process for pre-wet salt and sanding techniques for winter road.

 

Team:

Lauren Gaile, Frederick Dufresne
Kevin Desjardina-Galley and Connie Lopez

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BELLO WATER

Bello Water became Bello. and they have reinvented the distribution of drinking water offering a sustainable alternative to the plastic water bottle.

 

Team:

Clement Bouland & Marc Schaal

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DROPLETS

A digital platform to increase the public's trust in municipal tap water, and raise awareness about where to find public water fountains, to effectively decrease the use of plastic water bottles. Furthermore, applying current computing technology, in particular, Artificial Intelligence (IBM watson), they want to better understand the usage of tap water and assist in urban planning.

 

Team:

Mohamed Ibrahim, Yin Zhou and Monica Mazur

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

PROGRAMMING PARTNERS

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