Saipan is a U.S. territory in the Northern Mariana Islands with 40,000 residents and —until recently—a challenging water situation. The island was losing 70% of its potable water due to leaky pipes and theft. Drought and poor quality added to the problem, raising costs past what many people could afford. With nearly 15% of the population only receiving water a few hours a day and a potential public health crisis on its hands, Saipan needed a solution.
Factors like drought can’t be controlled. But delivery can. To improve the system, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands enlisted the help of CH2M Hill. The engineering company collaborated with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. to develop machine-to-machine (M2M) technology that keeps track of the water supply’s movement throughout the system—and more importantly, where it’s being lost.
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