The Municipality of Kincardine has signed a memorandum of understanding for the Smart Beach project, which will give beach-goers up-to-date information about water safety.
“What’s being created is sort of similar to the weather forecasting models that you use for rain or snow or anything like that, we’re building a very similar model, but for the near-shore. So about a couple hundred metres from the shoreline, we’re creating a weather model for the wave action,” said Kincardine’s Director of Community Services Luke Bedard.
The MOU outlines the collaboration between the Municipality of Kincardine, SwimSmart Technology LLC, and the University of Waterloo for the deployment of a third-party model as part of a university research project funded by MITACS.
The University of Waterloo is working on connecting the information that would be displayed on the sign at the beach to social media, so that beach-goers will know what the wave conditions are like before arriving at the beach.
SwimSmart’s contribution is for the sign at the beach itself, which will be displayed at Station Beach.
Following the signing of the MOU, the municipality will procure a custom solar powered FlashBoard from SwimSmart Water Safety Solutions.
The total cost of the FlashBoard will be $20,577 in 2026, funded by the contingency reserve.
Should the municipality continue operating the FlashBoard beyond 2026, there will be an annual SwimSmart subscription fee — $850 in 2026 — and a possible fee for the University of Waterloo’s model.