OWL: Increasing Public Works Capacity in Remote Communities
Enhancing public works training for rural communities on small water systems.
Project Overview
Updated August 1, 2024
The Problem
The risks of disruption to running water access increases with the remoteness of communities. Nearly 70% of rural water systems in Canada are categorized a medium to high risk of disruption (2016), potentially compromising access to over 500,000+ Canadians and especially impacting Indigenous communities. Part of this risk is the lack of qualified public works staff.
How We Are Solving It
This project will evolve the Community Circle’s (formerly RESEAU CMI) OWL (Operator’s Walkthrough Lab) platform into a suite of educational and training tools by leveraging conversational artificial intelligence (AI) and extended reality (XR) to enhance education to rural communities for better public works training on small water systems, operations and reducing water health risks. The platform will aim to enable public works educators and industry product support to both streamline education development and offer more immersive training delivery. Further, it will enable operators to find the right content at the right time in the moments that matter by utilizing AI support. Its delivery will address the need for training versatile public works talent in rural Indigenous communities, ultimately supporting their workforce development and economic participation. Training will additionally keep pace with emerging threats that impact risk such as climate change, emerging water contaminants and stressors.
The Result
This project sought to enable public works educators and industry product support to both streamline education development and offer more immersive training delivery through the OWL platform. Within the first months of the platform launch, it had over 200 downloads with over 50 active users as of the project completion. Further, it enabled operators to find the right content at the right time in the moments that matter by utilizing AI support.
OWL’s offering of conversational AI and XR tools and interactive modules offered a unique water system learning experience, with built-in quizzes to assess current skills and interests and suggest appropriate training with AI. Its ongoing delivery is addressing the need for training versatile public works talent in rural Indigenous communities, ultimately supporting their workforce development and economic participation.
