SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Freshwater
Trust (TFT), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to protect and restore
freshwater ecosystems, is partnering with IBM Research (NYSE: IBM)
and SweetSense Inc., a provider of low-cost satellite connected
sensors, to pilot technologies which can accurately monitor and
track groundwater use in one of the largest and most at risk
aquifers in North America. Additional research support will be
provided by the University of Colorado Boulder.
Jointly funded by the Water Foundation and the Gordon and Betty
Moore Foundation, the project's scientists and engineers will
demonstrate how the blockchain and remote IoT sensors can
accurately measure groundwater usage transparently, and in
real-time in California's
Sacramento San Joaquin River Delta.
The sensors will transmit water extraction data to orbiting
satellites and then to the IBM Blockchain Platform hosted in the
IBM Cloud. The blockchain will record of all data exchanges or
transactions made in an append-only, immutable ledger. The
blockchain also uses "smart contracts," whereby transactions are
automatically executed when the conditions are matched.
Through a web-based dashboard, water consumers, including
farmers; financers and regulators will all be able to monitor and
track the use of groundwater to demonstrate how sustainable pumping
levels can be achieved through the trading of groundwater use
shares in the State of California.
Individual users who require groundwater amounts beyond their share
cap will be able to "purchase" groundwater shares from users who do
not require all of their supply at a market-regulated rate.
For example:
- A strawberry farmer is planning to take the season off to
prepare for an organic crop the following harvest. The farmer can
trade or sell her water credits on the blockchain to another
farmer.
- Due to a particularly dry season a winery realizes it will need
additional ground water to avoid losing the vintage. The vintner
can purchase additional water shares, without negatively impacting
the aquifer.
"The future success of these sustainability plans hinges on
being able to track and report groundwater use, and likely will
also require a robust way to trade groundwater shares as well,"
said Alex Johnson, Freshwater Fund
Director with TFT. "Our strategic intent is to harness new
technologies to develop a system that makes getting groundwater
more sustainable, collaborative, accurate and transparent process,
which is why we are using the blockchain. We now have the project
team and funding to do it, and a strong network of partners in the
region that are open to an initial testing and building phase."
"Based on a research project in Kenya with USAID, the Millennium Water
Alliance and other partners we are now applying our expertise in
building decision support systems for water management for surface
and groundwater data aggregation, workflow optimization and
analytics to address similar challenges in California. With the addition of the
blockchain we can bridge critical trust and transparency gaps
making it possible to build a robust, scalable and cost-efficient
platform for managing precious groundwater supplies anywhere in the
world," said Dr. Solomon Assefa,
Vice President, Emerging Market Solutions and Director, IBM
Research - Africa.
The group will pilot the system in northern California's Sacramento-San Joaquin River
Delta, an area often referred to as the "nexus of California's statewide water system." The
river delta covers 1,100 square miles and provides water to the
San Francisco Bay Area and coastal
and southern California and
supports dozens of legally protected fish, plant and animal
species. In addition, nearly 75% of this land is used for
agriculture.
The sensor technology is provided by SweetSense Inc, which is
currently monitoring the groundwater supplies for over a million
people in Kenya and Ethiopia, with plans to scale to 5 million by
the end of the year. The sensor data are transmitted over satellite
networks to an online data analytics platform.
"By remotely monitoring groundwater use using our sensors, we're
able to help improve and maintain sustainable access to water
supplies for people, farmers, and livestock. The work we're doing
in Africa is directly translatable
to California," said Evan Thomas, CEO of SweetSense and Mortenson
Chair of Global Engineering at the University
of Colorado Boulder. "Our research team at the University of Colorado will assist in modeling
groundwater use through the sensor data and satellite detected
rainfall and weather correlations."
The collaboration began in response to the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which was signed into
California law in 2014. SGMA
mandated the creation of Groundwater Sustainability Agencies
(GSAs), local groups that are responsible for ensuring regional
groundwater supplies are sustainably managed. The GSAs are charged
with developing and implementing a plan to make their local
groundwater usage sustainable by 2040.
Haley Walker, Communications
Director, haley@thefreshwatertrust.org, 503-222-9091 X30
Leesa DAlto, IBM,
Leesa.DAlto@ibm.com, +1 212 671 9806
Chris Sciacca, IBM Research,
cia@zurich.ibm.com, +41 44 724 8443
About The Freshwater Trust
Since 2016, TFT has built multiple programs in the basin. In
response to another bill, Senate Bill 88, TFT developed a
measurement method for surface water diversion
that addresses the unique qualities of the Northern Delta region.
In 2017, 148 surface water diversions covering more than 29,000
farmed acres in the region — including wine grapes, pears,
corn, alfalfa, safflower, tomatoes and wheat — had enrolled in
our five-year study. For groundwater concerns in the same area, TFT
helped support the formation of the Northern Delta
Groundwater Sustainability Agency. This means 17 local
agencies formed into one integrated agency and have begun work on a
unified plan for sustainably managing groundwater use. These
agencies are understaffed, so TFT provides the capacity to gather
and analyze data and develop effective sustainability
measures.
About IBM Research
For more than
seven decades, IBM Research has defined the future of information
technology with more than 3,000 researchers in 12 labs located
across six continents. Scientists from IBM Research have produced
six Nobel Laureates, 10 U.S. National Medals of Technology, five
U.S. National Medals of Science, six Turing Awards, 19 inductees in
the National Academy of Sciences and 20 inductees into the U.S.
National Inventors Hall of Fame. For more information about IBM
Research, visit
www.ibm.com/research.
About Sweet Sense
SweetSense Inc.'s
mission is to improve transparency, accountability, and
cost-effectiveness of remote water, energy, and infrastructure
projects to improve health and quality of life. Daily, SweetSense
is monitoring millions of people's water supplies across
Africa and North America. We fix the Internet of Broken
Things®.
The University of Colorado
Boulder Mortenson Center in Global Engineering combines
education, research, and partnerships to positively impact
vulnerable people and their environment by improving development
tools and practice. Our vision is a world where everyone has safe
water, sanitation, energy, food, shelter, and
infrastructure.
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SOURCE IBM