AquaHacking is a water-focused pitch competition that mobilizes interdisciplinary teams of entrepreneurs, environmentalists, engineers and other creative minds to develop a technology that solves the issues facing our Great Lakes.
Last year, 20 University of Waterloo teams competed in the AquaHacking competition where they pitched their ideas for solutions to the biggest challenges facing Lake Erie. Five Waterloo teams made it to the finals where they battled it out for $25,000 in shared prize money and a spot in Waterloo’s Velocity Garage.
This year, AquaHacking is challenging teams to develop solutions to five issues facing Lake Ontario:
- Water crisis prediction and adaptation: How can we predict water crisis events and improve communication and co-ordination to reduce the risks and impacts of extreme weather events?
- Phosphorus capture and recycling in farming: How can we mitigate the excess phosphorus from agriculture that ends up in our water systems through surface runoff or sub-surface drainage systems?
- Tackling endocrine-disrupting chemicals: How can we capture and destroy chemical compounds like triclosan, phthalates and bisphenol-A (BPA) before they end up in our sewage treatment plants and in receiving waters?
- Real-time reporting of sewage overflow and untreated sewage spills: How can we do a better job of notifying the public of when and where sewage overflow is occurring, and when it’s safe to interact with water in this area again?
Participants 18 or older, are encouraged to sign up as a team, or as individual contributors, to compete in this year’s competition. There is $50,00 in prize money available to the winning teams, as well as a spot in Waterloo’s Velocity Garage.
More information about the competition and how to register can be found on the AquaHacking website.