Each year, the AquaHacking Challenge engages with rising gen hackers, engineers and marketers from various universities to create multidisciplinary teams and develop clean-tech engineering, web and mobile solutions to water issues affecting the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Watershed Basin. 

AquaHacking Challenge 2019

About the Challenge
Since 2015, AquaAction's flagship program has been the AquaHacking challenge - a tech competition where young innovators team up to tackle urgent water issues. This challenge allows young Canadians to develop entrepreneurial skills and launch their start-up with a sustainable mandate. The 2019 AquaHacking Challenge brought together students and young professionals from across Canada to take on real-life water issues concerning the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence areas.&nbsp;
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The Water Issues
The following are the five water issues for this challenge. Teams had to choose one of the five proposed issues.&nbsp;
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Floodproof Communities |&nbsp;Hosted by Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiatives
How could we reduce climate-related damages and economic losses from flooding for individuals, communities, infrastructure and the environment in the Great Lakes and St Lawrence River Basin?
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Road Salt |&nbsp;Hosted by WWF Canada
How might we divert road salt from entering the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Basin?
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Microplastics |&nbsp;Hosted by McMaster University, University of Sherbrooke, and Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiatives
How might we develop an intervention to prevent plastics and microplastics from entering the waters of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Basin?
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Flushable Wipes | Hosted by Municipal Enforcement Sewer Use Group (MESUG)
How might we develop a solution to prevent wipes from contaminating wastewater collection and treatment systems?
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Municipal Drinking Water and Public Fountains |&nbsp;Hosted by APEL and City of Montreal&nbsp;
How might we increase public trust and use of public water throughout the city of Montreal?
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The Participant Experience
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Over 180 registered participants were involved in this challenge. From March to September, these multidisciplinary teams had travelled through a series of workshops (focused on Design Thinking, Machine Learning, and Pitches), the semi-finals, valuable mentorship with water leaders, and an expedition weekend leading to the grand finale.
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14 teams had made it to the semi-finals held at the end of Phase 1. 6 teams were selected as finalists and had attended an exclusive Expedition on Lake Ontario. This was an opportunity for them to experience the Great Lakes and garner a deeper understanding of, and appreciation for, fresh water in Canada. Leading up to the finale, the finalist teams were also awarded $2000 in funding to refine their solution over the summer months.
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&ldquo;On behalf of the Bello Water team, we want to thank the entire team of Hackworks and AquaHacking. It was really well organized from the start of the competition to the semi-final. And we want to thank you for your support and your help all along the event. Thank you for this amazing experience. We really appreciate it! It was very motivating and interesting.&rdquo; - Clement &amp; Marc, Team Bello Water
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