Whilst it is often said that the vast bulk of consumer interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology is based on speculative financial gain, it is always refreshing to see its usage considered for the greater cause. This is exactly what innovators at IBM are hoping to achieve, with a recent pilot test to ascertain whether blockchain and IoT (Internet of Things) technologies can help track groundwater usage in the U.S. state of California.
In collaboration with not-for-profit organization the Freshwater Trust and satellite sensor provider SweetSense, the IBM project is looking to tackle unsustainable usage of groundwater. The key reason that California has been targeted is that the location hosts one of the most at-risk aquifers in the U.S.
In effect, the idea behind the project is to utilize IoT sensors to transmit groundwater usage levels in real-time. In order to obtain the data seamlessly and securely, the IoT sensors will transfer the data to the underlying IBM blockchain system. As such, the data is immutable to error, amendment or malpractice. The team at IBM are also hoping to utilize smart contract technology, which will allow the system to execute data when certain pre-defined if/when conditions are met.
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