Environment intelligence platform eagle.io has announced a rapid uptake of its internet of things (IoT) platform to support regulators and licensees understand and manage environmental conditions in real-time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It gives users real-time data which is gathered through its remote monitoring technology and has enabled organisations across the world to understand how their operations impacts air, noise and water conditions of valuable environmental assets in real time.

Government regulators are also realising the benefits of environmental IoT monitoring during travel restrictions, with a pilot project for Queensland’s Department of Environment and Science providing valuable insights for compliance officers that removed the need for manual site checks.

“Real-time monitoring can serve as an early-warning system, giving our compliance officers a head start on taking swift action to prevent environmental harm,” head of the department of environment and science’s environmental services and regulation division Rob Lawrence says.

The system features a ecosystem of sensors, telemetry and software which is delivered by partners that allow operators and regulators to detect, predict and avoid environmental impacts in real-time.

Local regulatory officers receive email and SMS alerts immediately when pollution is detected, or when smaller anomalies indicate that issues could emerge in the future.

Eagle.io chief executive Ben Starr says that the platform has been used by regulators to detect harmful discharges that would have otherwise gone unnoticed: “By being able to identify when levels are approaching licence limits or are posing a risk to the community, the alarm is able to be sounded much earlier, allowing operators to proactively reduce or avoid environmental harm.

“Before the adoption of real-time monitoring, regulators and licence holders often only found out about non-compliant discharge events six weeks after they took place.

“Without real-time monitoring, there is little chance to understand the causal link between action and outcome, and little opportunity for future improvement by business to reduce or minimise the risk of pollution and environmental harm.”

The Department of Environment and Science worked with a number of eagle.io integrators to deploy the monitoring hardware, including ACOEM Ecotech, and local Brisbane firm NoiseNet.com.au.

Residential developer Stockland is another Queensland organisation that has benefited from eagle.io’s platform, and embraced remote environmental monitoring during COVID-19.