Earth, whom 7 billion of us and countless other life-forms call home, is one humongous living body like its residents. Like our bodies, on its land masses are innumerable veins and arteries pumping trillions of gallons of water every second. These arteries and veins channel the water into the heart and lungs of the planet, the oceans. The water is then exhaled and reaches the mountains tops from where it journeys back down through the same veins and arteries.
So, our planet is a giant living body with an incessant circulation of water. It is this circulation of water that gives Earth life. Without water, the Earth wouldn’t be what it is.Without it,we won’t have anything. Nolife, no culture, no society, no economy. Nothing!
Every year, millions of people contract water-borne diseases and move on to the next world, most of them being children. Some corporations are tapping our supply for increasing their output,while others are contaminating our rivers and streams with toxic chemicals. These chemicals eventually end up in our drinking water supply and we’re completely oblivious to this reality thinking someone in the government is protecting our water supply.
We already have wars going on over oil and an ever-increasing shortage of clean drinking water is not painting a pretty picture either. In such a situation, it is imperative that we take measures to preserve and prevent it from being squandered.
Many established companies and even budding startups have realized the gravity of the situation and are coming up with innovative ideas to get the planet out of this water crisis. Due to higher return on investment, more and more startups are jumping in the bandwagon. In this article, we will look at some of the companies that are making waves in water technology and innovation sector.
H20 Innovation achieved what many large companies failed to accomplish. They juggled both system integrator and chemical roles simultaneously, thanks to smart technology. As a result, their revenue grew by 40% in 2015. Their innovative Fiber Flex membrane module has revolutionized membrane systems altogether. Customers do not have to purchase replacement membrane from the same supplier, thanks to Flex membrane module. They have shown that a small company can make a huge difference with creativity and dedication.
Named in Global Cleantech 100 list, the founder of Aqwise founded this company in 2008. It develops modular technologies for treating wastewater. The method they use to treat wastewater is more energy efficient as compared to traditional methods. Additionally, it is very efficient when it comes to reducing the excess sludge. With big names such as GE Ventures, Plan B Ventures, Energy Technology Ventures and Clean Tech Ventures among their investors, Emefcy will continue to innovate and flourish in years to come.
Have you ever faced a broken or pipe leak problem at your home? Almost all of us have been in this situation. Leaking and broken pipe can put a huge drain on scarce water resources. Identifying these leaks in broken underground pipes is not only time consuming but also very expensive. Acoustic Sensing Technology has found an innovative solution to this problem by using sonar technology. By using the combination of hardware, software and data analytics, acoustic sensing technology can detect any leaking and broken pipes at the depth of 100 meters in less than 3 minutes. That is impressive, isn’t it?
Another company that deserves a special mention on this list is Imagine H20. Do you know why? The reason is that they have applied new technology to deliver innovative solutions to complex problems in a wide range of domains from wastewater processing to precision agriculture. In addition to this, they also organize competitions for startups with an innovative idea. The sixth annual competition will focus on “scalable solutions to improve clean and waste water infrastructure.” Their goal is to reduce the environmental impact of water loss and reduce cost.
Originating from Sydney Australia, BioGill has expanded their network of installations and designers from Australia to different countries of the world such as New Zealand, Fiji, Canada, and India. This multinational company sells bioreactors for wastewater treatment and recycling purposes. Their above ground bioreactor does a fantastic job at treating wastewater and making it reusable again. Many detergent plants as well as food manufacturing plants are using the technology developed by BioGill.
Artificial intelligence is one of the top technology trends for 2017 and EMAGIN uses it to its advantage. EMAGIN’s HARVI platform helps you manage systems more efficiently by using artificial intelligence. It replicates your physical infrastructure virtually and let you access it through acloud-based application. Canadian company’s website explains how it works, “The geospatial tab provides a real-time visualization of the system with the ability to filter key water quality or hydraulic parameters. These predictions are then used to iteratively simulate the impacts of control decisions until an optimal decision is found and delivered to the operator in real time.”
Have you ever thought we would be detecting water leaks in our water system underground from the sky? I can bet your answer is no. Utilis uses satellite sensors to identify leaks in your water infrastructure with the help of images.
What is even more interesting is the fact that this is not restricted to a small area. In fact, you can monitor leaks on an area spanning over thousands of square miles. Utilis algorithm looks for a specific spectral signature that is present in drinking water and matches it with treated water. A detailed graphical leakage report is presented to the user with all the information of pipes and sizes along with the map.
Founded in 2004, this California-based company develops commercial biological waste treatment technologies. Ittake its cues from natural breakdown process of breaking down organic materials. They have replicated the process to treat water waste more efficiently. Their BioViper system is used by Dr.Pepper Snapple Group and is supported by actors such as Edward Norton and Woody Harrelson.
With less than 1% freshwater available for use, desalinating salty water is imperative. Interest in desalinating seawater is growing and new methods and approaches are emerging. WaterFX is leading the way in this regard. San Francisco-based company is taking advantage of solar panels for removing salt from drainage water. Additionally, it is making it fit for drinking.
Aaron Mandell, founder and CEO of the company shares his vision, “The idea is for farmers to reduce the draw on municipal facilities. He further added, “Our hurdle is to get people to accept a new approach, new notions of desalination.”Their massive 6500 square foot facility is capable of producing 8 gallons of pure water every minute by removing the salinity from saline discharge.
Another water technology and innovation company from Israel made it to our list. TaKaDu offers water meter monitoring and analytics as a cloud service. Expanding its operations in other countries, it has managed to secure big contracts from Australia, England and Spain in a short span of time. Amir Peleg, CEO and founder of TaKaDu clarified that “It’s not just about water loss, it goes way beyond that to reduce the cycles of fixing problems and increasingly data availability about the network”
Conclusion
Water is a scarce resource and we need to act quickly before our whole planet starts to look like a desert. Startups and companies are doing their bit but every individual will have to play its role in conserving water. We can also use technology to detect and prevent wastage as some of the aforementioned startups did. If you have any other water technology startup or company in mind that is not on our list, feel free to share it in the comments section below.
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Thanks for the appreciation.