New Device Uses GPS & Crowdsourcing to Identify World’s Water Problems. More than 3.5 million people die each year as the result of water-related disease according to the World Health Organization.
Water Canary, a new device unveiled this week at TED Global in Edinburgh, Scotland, hopes to put a dent in this number by providing real-time information on potential outbreaks of disease- infected water. The device lets anyone test water with the push of the button and then submits the results along with location data wirelessly. In turn, the company hopes it can identify problems much more quickly than chemical-based testing and prevent communities from drinking contaminated water.