GEORGIAN COLLEGE
Beach safety in Bruce County buoyed by new research collaboration

Georgian College is partnering with the University of Waterloo and the Town of Saugeen Shores to improve beach safety along Lake Huron through the Smart Beach applied research project, thanks to support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through a College and Community Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF) grant.

The Smart Beach research project aims to better understand how offshore conditions impact safety at the beach and to provide real-time, location-specific information to help keep residents and visitors safe.

A research buoy has been deployed approximately one kilometre off the Saugeen Shores coastline to collect data on wave height, direction, water temperature and other key variables. Georgian students will play an important role in analyzing the data and leading the development of a mobile app that uses this information to improve beach safety.

The project aims to better understand how offshore conditions impact safety at the beach and to provide real-time, location-specific information to help keep residents and visitors safe.

"This project is a strong example of how applied research can directly benefit our communities while providing hands-on learning opportunities for students and strengthening our collaboration with other educational institutions," said Laleh Khodaparast, Director, Research and Innovation at Georgian. "By contributing to real-time beach safety solutions, students are not only gaining valuable research experience but also helping to shape technology that will increase safety for residents and visitors alike."

The project builds on Smart Beach research conducted in 2022 off the Kincardine shoreline by the same research team.

With large bodies of water like Lake Huron, shoreline and wave behaviours can be unfamiliar to many beachgoers. The research aims to improve awareness and reduce risk by providing reliable, real-time information.

"Surf zone hazards, such as large waves and strong currents, can represent a significant danger to swimmers in the Great Lakes. This is particularly true in communities that don't have a dedicated lifeguard program or have a large number of visitors who are unfamiliar with local beach conditions. The goal of the Smart Beach program is to promote beach safety through a publicly available application to provide increased awareness and an effective real-time warning system for surf-related hazards," said Dr. Alex Smith, PhD, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo.

Community members and visitors can help shape the project by participating in a beach safety survey open this summer until Aug. 31. University of Waterloo students will be on local beaches throughout the summer encouraging participation. The survey is also available online.

"The Smart Beach program is a powerful example of how innovation and community partnership can make a meaningful difference," said Luke Charbonneau, Mayor of Saugeen Shores. "By working alongside the University of Waterloo and Georgian College, we're combining technology, research, and public input to take impactful, proactive steps toward enhancing beach safety on our beautiful shoreline."

The Smart Beach project reflects ongoing collaboration between Georgian, the University of Waterloo, Saugeen Shores and other Bruce County communities to advance freshwater safety innovation and provide students with meaningful, real-world research experience.