Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Halifax Water is a corporate body responsible for the municipal, waste and storm water utility serving theHalifax Regional Municipality (HRM). Due to increases in local development and population, particularly inthe industrial areas surrounding the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, Halifax Water needs to be preparedfor the possibility of increased demand and consumption. In order to most effectively meet and manage thispotential demand for water, Halifax Water needs accurate calculations of water supply volumes in theirreservoirs, which for this area is a lake, thus they accurate information on the lake bathymetry to calculate thewater reservoir. Currently, they rely on crude lake bathymetry maps that were compiled by the Nova ScotiaDepartment of Fisheries and Aquaculture decades ago for the purpose of supporting the inland fishery. Moreaccurate bathymetry data can be obtained by surveying the deeper parts of the reservoir using echo-soundertechnology, but the shallow nearshore water is difficult to survey with a boat because of navigation andsampling limitations. The Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) has recently acquired an airbornetopo-bathymetric lidar sensor that is capable of accurately surveying the bathymetry of the lake in water up toapproximately 15 m deep. When these two data types are integrated (aerial and boat based), they provide aseamless elevation model which can be used for improved reservoir volume calculations, allowing HalifaxWater to calculate reservoir capacity at any water level for the lake.