With highly disruptive factors such as climate change creating risks for public, environmental and economic health, it's time to find a proactive response when it comes to managing our water-- and that's what EMAGIN aims to do. By combining artificial intelligence with water utilities and industries, EMAGIN wants to shift the paradigm from reacting manually to proactively controlling how water utilities are operated and managed. "Building an artificial intelligence company like EMAGIN has been an incredible and rewarding journey. What we've accomplished in such a short period of time has really come from our drive to bring change to the digital water landscapes, which is also a global issue," says Mohamad. "There hasbeen a growing interest from a number of industries and municipalities throughout North America. We're currently working with two Ontario municipalities that are using our AI to help operate their water and wastewater systems."

A startup that has developed artificial intelligence to better manage city water systems is among 10 companies from around the world admitted to a San Francisco accelerator focused on turning drought, leaky pipes and pollution into business opportunities. Emagin, founded in 2016 by Thouheed Abdul Gaffoor and Mohamad Vedut, was among more than 200 applications for the 2017 cohort at the Imagine H2O accelerator in California. After graduating from the University of Waterloo with a degree in environmental engineering, Gaffoor hooked up with Vedut, who graduated from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology with a degree in software engineering. They founded Emagin and moved into the Velocity Garage in the Tannery building in downtown Kitchener while Gaffoor pursues his master's in civil engineering at UW. Two Ontario municipalities are using the startup's artificial intelligence to help operate drinking water and wastewater systems. Emagin's software quickly establishes the normal rates of water use on a system, and alerts operators to problems.