Water Rangers is a non-profit organization that helps communities test their water and understand its quality. The water testing kits are making it easier for people to check local water sources and learn more about the environment.
After retirement, Kat Kavanagh’s father began volunteering to check the water quality of Lac McGlashan, a small lake in Quebec where she grew up. After 20 years, Kat joined him to help collect water samples. She wanted to know if the water was clean and safe, but finding the answer was not easy, as lab testing was needed and past information was not easily accessible. Kat realized that people who cared about their local lakes needed a simpler way to understand water quality. With her experience in technology, she founded Water Rangers, a non-profit organization that provides communities with water-testing kits, training, and an online platform. These tools help people test their local waterways, understand the results, and share information to protect their water.
Water Rangers provides the tools and an open data platform that turn water data into action for healthier rivers and lakes. The platform currently brings together data from 306 organizations, 458 datasets, 9,352 locations, more than 71,700 observations, 577,500 data points, and 3,344 contributors. People can use this information to monitor local lakes, rivers, and streams, track changes over time, and better understand the health of their waterways. By making this information freely available and easy to share, Water Rangers has been helping communities make informed decisions and take action to protect their water resources.
Kat Kavanagh wanted to make water testing easier and less expensive for everyone. In 2015, she developed the first Water Rangers prototype and won AquaAction’s AquaHacking competition, which helps people create solutions to freshwater problems. AquaAction helps new companies develop and test their water-saving technologies before bringing them to market. The RBC Foundation has also supported AquaAction for nearly 10 years, providing $6.25 million in funding. This support has helped more than 150 companies grow and create over 1,200 new jobs in the blue economy, which focuses on businesses and industries that protect and benefit from water resources.
Source: The Globe and Mail
