Project Service Connector Launched

A unique group of people has begun the task of bringing innovative thinking to a common area of interest for all Saskatchewan municipalities-a more efficient process to replace municipal water service connections. The working group, numbering almost 40 people from a wide cross-section of backgrounds and disciplines, accepted a challenge from Communities of Tomorrow to attack the problem and emerge with a recommended solution over a period of three months.  It’s known as “Project Service Connector”.

“This whole concept emerged from our consultations with municipalities about their needs for innovation in infrastructure,” says Communities of Tomorrow President John Lee. “One of the challenges that came out in almost every discussion was the need to replace a large number of water service connections due to their age and increasing failure rate. There are city employees and contractors doing that work virtually every day. If we can help find a better way, there is an enormous potential savings to city budgets and much less disruption of streets and homes.”

The problem with water service connections from water mains up to the customer’s property line is that traditional replacement methods involve a great deal of trenching in paved streets and sometimes across curbs and public sidewalks. The work is manpower and equipment intensive, and results in torn up streets and boulevards in residential areas. The challenge-how to do this essential work more efficiently and with less disruption-and to generate a new system that can be used by many communities that are using a variety of pipe material and valve systems.

The team taking on this challenge includes representatives of engineering and public works departments in North Battleford, Estevan, Weyburn, Saskatoon, Humboldt, Melfort and Regina.  They are joined by researchers from the National Research Council, University of Regina, and Saskatchewan Research Council, as well as educators from SIAST and the University of Regina and members of the Communities of Tomorrow team.

“We are using a muti-sectoral approach because that helps generate new ways of thinking in each sector represented,” says John Lee. “We have front line public works people talking to software and robotics experts and even business consultants. It makes for some interesting discussion!”

Communities of Tomorrow engaged Conroy Ross Consultants to organize and facilitate the working sessions.  There will only be four occasions when the entire group will be in one room together.  In between those meetings they have organized themselves into topic themes that will take on responsibility to research and document possible approaches to the challenge. The work teams will collaborate via conference calls and an online site that has been set up for their exclusive use.

By early summer, Project Service Connector will emerge with a final report that recommends next steps towards a best-practice solution to the water service connection challenge.

“We do know that this project will have many spin-off benefits for municipalities,” says Lee. “It may be something that requires further research to prove out, or a call to private industry to create something new that ultimately will be commercialized, or apply the solution with existing technology. And it will have emerged from a collaborative effort that challenges traditional methods.”

Project Service Connector is one of the activities of a Municipal Innovation Network that Communities of Tomorrow is building in Saskatchewan. The network is intended to allow collaboration and co-operation among municipalities and other stakeholders to share and generate innovative municipal infrastructure solutions that will create more efficient infrastructure systems in Saskatchewan communities, and potentially catalyze the development of new products and services that Saskatchewan companies can deliver here at home and in the trillion dollar global infrastructure marketplace.