Tech giant IBM has become a leader in real-world blockchain technology applications. Blockchain-based solutions have already been implemented by the company to track food supply chains and ensure ethical minerals. IBM continues to work with a number of leading organizations through its blockchain network to solve complex business challenges.
IBM Research is partnering with The Freshwater Trust (TFT), a non-profit organization that works to protect and restore freshwater ecosystems, and SweetSense Inc., a supplier of low-cost satellite-connected sensors, to monitor the use of groundwater in one of North America’s largest and most at-risk aquifers.
This project, which is also jointly funded by the Water Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, will be supported by the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Scientists and engineers from the project will show how the blockchain and remote IoT sensors can measure the use of groundwater transparently and in real time accurately. The sensors transmit data from water extraction to orbiting satellites and then to the IBM blockchain platform in the IBM Cloud. The blockchain records all data exchanges or transactions carried out in an annex-only, unchangeable library.
Smart contracts will also be used when transactions are executed automatically when the conditions are met. The group will pilot the system in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in northern California, often referred to as the “nexus of the statewide water system in California.” The river delta covers 1,100 square miles and provides water to the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California. It also supports dozens of fish, plant and animal species that are legally protected. In addition, almost 75% of this land is used for agriculture.
The collaboration between the organizations began in response to the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). SGMA mandated the establishment of groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs), local groups responsible for ensuring sustainable management of regional groundwater supplies. The GSAs are responsible for the development and implementation of a plan to ensure sustainable use of local groundwater by 2040.
A web-based dashboard for farmers, financiers and regulators will be available throughout the pilot, allowing all parties to monitor and track groundwater use. This will also help to show how sustainable levels of pumping can be achieved by trading shares in the State of California in groundwater use. Individual users who require quantities of groundwater beyond their share cap can “purchase” shares of groundwater from other users who do not require their entire supply at a market-regulated rate.
According to IBM Research, Africa’s computer scientist Nathan Wangusi, researchers are developing a concept of “groundwater credit,” which will allow farmers to trade water sources among themselves.
“The blockchain allows for visibility of water extraction and keeps a tight ledger on this, while helping with transparency and the ability to trade assets. We are now developing a groundwater credit, which is an asset-based token that represents an amount of water that a user has rights to. This is similar to environmental credit. For example, we currently have a project that uses plastic recycling as a tokenized credit that can be traded on a blockchain platform,” Wangusi said.
For example, if a strawberry farmer plans to take the season to prepare the following harvest for an organic crop, they can trade or sell water credits to another farmer on the blockchain. Or, if a winery realizes that additional groundwater is needed to avoid losing the vintage due to a particularly dry season, the vintner can purchase additional shares of water without adversely affecting the aquifer.
SweetSense is currently monitoring groundwater for more than a million people via satellite networks in Kenya and Ethiopia, and by the end of the year it plans to reach 5 million. Although this pilot is an early example of the potential of these technologies, the project teams also see it as an enormous opportunity for future success.
However, it is still a challenge to explain blockchain technology to all parties involved.
In addition, this pilot’s success depends heavily on the technologies involved.