Kelowna

Photo: Contributed - City of Kelowna

The City of Kelowna and UBC Okanagan are teaming up to improve irrigation practices in the parks.

The City received a $20,000 grant from the Okanagan Basin Water Board to develop a web-based system to analyze historical and current irrigation to improve irrigation practices.

Ted Sophonow, Parks, Beaches and Sports Fields Supervisor says the city is an important consumer of water within the community.

"Water is essential to maintain the quality of our sports fields and parks so residents and visitors can enjoy recreational activities. If we can find more efficient and sustainable ways to save our natural resources, we wouldn’t hesitate to do so.” 
 
City Council asked UBCO to consult on the project and for students from the Computer Science department to build the required software.

Dr. Ramon Lawrence, Associate Professor at UBCO says this is a great project for our students to be involved in.

"This software, used to gather and study park irrigation data, will be the first of its kind in Canada. It will assist park managers in making appropriate decisions on the whole irrigation system for city parks. It will also be designed and available for other cities, organizations and businesses to use.”

Students and City crews are currently collecting historical and real-time data on our parks’ water usage. The information should be gathered and the software completed by the end of the summer.