The News: Through its Qualcomm Wireless Reach Initiative in partnership with the Smart Water Project, due to prior successes, the Smart Water Project is expanding in Tekax, Yucatan, Mexico. The project is leveraging internet of things (IoT) to monitor water quality to thwart myriad diseases that can negatively impact human life and wildlife. Read more in the Qualcomm newsroom.

The Smart Water Project in Partnership with Qualcomm is Saving Lives

Analyst Take: The Smart Water Project is an excellent use case on how the IoT is helping solve global problems that can save lives from death or extreme illness. In fact, according to the World Health Organization, approximately 2 billion people live in water-stressed countries, that are expected to be under continued pressure due to climate change coupled with population growth. Other diseases associated with contaminated water include cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio. As if that’s not enough, as much as poor water quality is impacting humans, it also negatively impacts wildlife. Recent examples where toxic algae or neurotoxins have injured or killed wildlife include elephants in Botswana and dogs in the Columbia River. In essence, polluted water has the potential to injure kill humans and wildlife, which impacts food chains, pets, and endangered species.

Since 2009, the Smart Water Project has been leveraging Qualcomm-enabled technology to provide accurate and real-time data to local water authorities and community members in the City of Merida, the largest city in the Yucatan state. The only source of drinking water in the Yucatan Peninsula is in the southeast of Mexico that comes from a karst aquifer system that is highly susceptible to pollutants due to the absence of robust sanitary drainage networks making it highly vulnerable.

With Smart IoT sensors powered by Qualcomm wireless technologies, the IoT sensors measure turbidity, free chlorine, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total organic carbon (TOC), water conductivity, temperature nitrates, and pH. The information is uploaded to the Dime H20 system for further analysis and creates an index of water quality allowing great quality control and efficiency which means personnel are spending less time collecting measurements. Due to the proven success in partnership with Qualcomm, The Smart Water Project in partnership with Qualcomm is expanding IoT solution to improve water quality and stewardship in Tekax, Yucatan, Mexico.

Leveraging the Power of Network Connectivity Can Be a Game-Changer

Wrapping it up, this is an excellent use case demonstrating how companies can leverage the power of network connectivity to monitor sensors deployed in ruggedized and non-ruggedized environments that have the potential to save lives, create further operational efficiencies and beyond. This is truly a game-changer and something that’s exciting to see.

While we are still in the nascent stages of just what the IoT can do, and many organizations continue to create dedicated business units to educate, recruit, and train partners as the world of IoT/OTT converge. We are looking forward to watching for more good things ahead.

Disclosure: Futurum Research is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.

Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of Futurum Research as a whole.