‘First of its kind in Canada’: New smart beach light warning system installed at Kincardine beach

Kincardine has installed Canada’s first Smart Beach Light, which uses real time weather data to determine if the beach is safe to swim. Scott Miller explains.

A new system to warn beach goers of unsafe swimming conditions is being installed on Kincardine’s public shoreline.

“We’ve had a really tragic past in Kincardine where people have lost their lives because of really dangerous currents. This will hopefully keep people safe so that when the conditions change, they can pause and take a moment to think about whether or not they should go into the water,” said Meagan Fair, one of the local founders of Kincardine Beach Safety, who have been calling for beach safety improvements in the shoreline town since 2020.

Six people have drowned and seven more people have almost drowned in the waters off the coast of Kincardine since 2008.

In a search for beach safety, Kincardine has created a 200 metre no swim zone, south of the town’s pier, where many of the drownings have occurred. More life saving equipment has also been added to the shoreline and piers, but the first Smart Beach Light ever installed in Canada is really the centrepiece of Kincardine’s push towards shoreline safety.

“This is the first smart beach traffic light in Canada. These traffic lights, we have a lot in the United States. They connect to our weather forecasts, and they change whenever the weather conditions deteriorate. This is actually a first of its kind in Canada. We’re working with the University of Waterloo and the Municipality of Kincardine to develop a custom model for this beach in particular. And then as the conditions change, the light will change,” explained Jacob Soter, inventor and director of Smart Swim Technology, based in Michigan.

Real time data from buoys off the coast of Kincardine that measure wind speed and direction, along with wave strength, are combined with predictive modelling captured through two summers of studying Kincardine’s water patterns and currents to automatically change the traffic lights to let beach goers know if it’s safe to go in the water or not.

“Red light, high hazard, yellow light, medium hazard and green light, low hazard. We’re looking at lessening the drownings. But this is still based on human behavior, so we’re just trying to help people make the best decisions possible,” said Kincardine’s Emergency Management Coordinator Shane Watson.

Fair, who has been holding water safety presentations for Bruce County school kids since 2023, believes Kincardine’s Smart Beach Light is a game changer, and a model for other Great Lakes communities to consider.

“This light is not driven by somebody making a decision. This light is driven off of a model. That’s the first time that that’s been done in Canada, where they took the weather information for a few years, collecting it here at Station Beach with the University of Waterloo, and turned that into a model of our beach so that as the weather is changing, that model is determining what is the red, the yellow and the green,” she explained.

Kincardine officials say it will take about two weeks to calibrate the Smart Beach Light, but then their high-tech, but incredibly simple approach to beach safety communication, will be operational for everyone visiting Kincardine’s public shoreline.

“Easy information that people can access and then make that decision to go in the water or not,” said Mike Di Giovanni, Kincardine’s director of parks and facilities.

“If I wasn’t even from around here, and I came down to the beach and I saw a red light, I’m going to think twice about going in the water, and then maybe I’ll look into it further. If I see a yellow light, maybe I’ll ask some of the local people at the beach,” he said.

“I know the University of Waterloo is in talks with other municipalities in the region to adopt this, as well. So, we’re just excited to be a partner, to provide the cool traffic light that people can see, before they go to the beach,” added Swim Smart Founder Soter.

While Kincardine’s Smart Beach Light will likely be operational before a ribbon cutting on June 12, some of the family members of the six people who have drowned in Kincardine’s waters will be in attendance, to not only see the warning light in action, but take part in the unveiling of a commemorative bench honouring their loved ones, who lost their lives off the shores of Kincardine.