Waterloo grad's innovation is worth its salt

For contractors who drop salt on parking lots and sidewalks, as well as the municipalities or owners who pay for it, there’s never been a way to measure how much salt is actually dispensed. Smart Scale, an automated salt logging and tracking system designed specifically for the winter maintenance industry, is changing that.

Developed by Raqib Omer, a Waterloo Engineering graduate, Smart Scale uses exclusive hardware wirelessly paired with GPS-enabled smart phones to track the location of a maintenance vehicle and amount of salt dispensed, and logs the information on a cloud-based system in real time. Since the cost of salt is based on size of load, property owners can be assured they’re getting what they paid for, as well as reducing risks that exist in the industry.

“With growing public concern on the environmental effects of salt, rising salt prices, and increasing fear of litigation due to slips and falls, as well as driving conditions, reliable and accurate information on salt application is becoming a necessity for maintenance contractors,” said Omer.

Omer is one of two entrepreneurs who continue to further their technologies and startups thanks to a $60,000 Scientists and Engineers in Business fellowship. The fellowship is a University of Waterloo program supported by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario for promising entrepreneurs who want to commercialize their innovations and start high-tech businesses.

More than 20 winter maintenance contractors in Canada and the U.S., including Urban Meadows Property Maintenance Group in Ayr, Ontario, currently use Smart Scale.

Urban Meadows owner, William Jordan, met Omer in the early testing phase of Smart Scale and the startup phase of Omer’s company, Viaesys. As the first contractor to test Smart Scale, he quickly learned there were times his company was using too much salt.

“The accuracy rate wasn’t there at all,” said Jordan. “We’re now able to accurately monitor salt usage, prevent excessive material use, keep bullet-proof records of our work and job-cost a lot better. The real time tracking of salt has helped us use up to 30 per cent less salt.”

Smart Scale is now installed on all four of his company’s trucks, which service 75 properties in Cambridge and Ayr, including parking lots for grocery stores and post offices.

Jordan, who is also chair of the snow and ice committee management sector for the horticultural trade association, Landscape Ontario, says he quickly jumped on board with Omer’s research and would like to see Smart Scale change the way salt is applied across Ontario. With no industry standards for salt application currently in place, Smart Scale could make this possible.

 

Back to top

The Grand River's filled with what?

Sugar is sweet and so is honey. Saccharine in the river just sounds funny.

Researchers from the University of Waterloo and Environment Canada found elevated concentrations of artificial sweeteners in the Grand River and calculated the equivalent of 81,850 to 188,650 cans of soda pop flow from it into the lake every day.

The scientists also found that municipally treated drinking water also contained measurable concentrations of artificial sweeteners.

The study analyzed samples from 23 stations along the Grand River as well as tap water from Brantford, Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo. The sweeteners are sucralose, cyclamate, saccharin and acesulfame.

Scientists from the University of Waterloo and Environment Canada examined whether artificial sweeteners could be used as a tool to trace human wastewater.

Artificial sweeteners are commonly used as a sugar substitute in a variety of foods. They serve as ideal tracers of human wastewater because they exit the human body intact. Since they do not degrade easily, they pass through wastewater treatment plants and are discharged to the local watershed.

Lake Erie, which the Grand River flows to, receives discharge from several highly urbanized watersheds, which may be delivering similar concentrations of artificial sweeteners to the lake. The effect of accumulating concentrations of sweeteners on the environment and aquatic organisms remains unknown.

One advantage of this tool is that it can be used to distinguish human from agricultural waste in surface and groundwater systems, allowing regulators to pinpoint pollution sources.

“Artificial sweeteners are an extremely powerful wastewater tracer, whether from wastewater effluent or from groundwater influenced by septic systems,” said Professor John Spoelstra, lead author on the study.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo and Environment Canada are currently using these tracers to identify the source of these elevated artificial sweeteners in groundwater, a common source of drinking water. Artificial sweeteners may be entering groundwater through leaking sewer pipes or septic tanks.

Professor Sherry Schiff is a co-author on the study. She and Professor Spoelstra are from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the Faculty of Science at Waterloo. Professor Spoelstra is also a research scientist with Environment Canada, and Professor Schiff is a member of the Water Institute at Waterloo.

The study was funded by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Strategic Project grant.

 

Back to top

Engineering plans memorial for Khaled Soudki

Originally published on the Engineering news website.

On September 17, 2013, members of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering lost a friend and colleague with the passing of Professor Khal Soudki after a long battle with cancer. A funeral prayer was held at the Waterloo Masjid the same day.

Professor Soudki was an internationally renowned leader in the field of reinforced and pre-stressed concrete structures with emphasis on the use of advanced fibre reinforced polymers (FRP) for the repair of structures. His research contributions over the last twenty years resulted in more than 300 publications, including patents, book chapters and many journal and conference publications. Dr. Soudki had substantial experience with structural performance of concrete members and his research had high impact as it was directed at the repair of deteriorated structures with minimal cost, time and complexity. He worked with many public and private sector research partners to improve the state of the practice. Khal leaves behind a legacy of engineering research in Canada and around the world.

A Memorial Service in celebration of Khal’s life will be held in late February/early March. The Service will include technical presentations by some of Khal’s current and former students, colleagues’ reflections on Khal’s personal and professional life, and various dedications, including a memorial donation opportunity.

Further details on the Memorial Service, including timing and location, will be available in January. Readers are encouraged to contact Trenny McGinnis, Administrative Officer, CEE, to be included on the invitation list.

 

Back to top