Water Conservation the Intelligent Way

Written by Anna da Costa / 14 July 2009 / Read Anna da Costa's latest blog entries.

Water and energy are increasingly scarce and valuable commodities around the world – whether we realise it yet or not.

In India, the scarcity is immensely apparent, with water only available at certain times of the day if at all in most parts of a city, with groundwater levels rapidly depleting, and with power cuts or no access to power common.

One of the ways for people to ensure they have access to water despite this scarcity of supply is to use water tanks. When water becomes available in an area, it is pumped into the tank with a manually controlled electric pump, so that it can then be accessed at any time of the day, mains supply or not.

Yet in adopting this approach, a large amount of water wastage happens across India. People leave pumps on continuously, forget to turn them off for a while, or simply don’t know when their tank is full, causing the tanks to overflow.

Praveen Sinha, an innovative entrepreneur who was deeply disturbed by this unnecessary waste, has created a fantastic solution to this problem, which is already being implemented in Delhi and NCR households, Jharkhand and Rajasthan.

Describing the motivation behind this work, he says he ‘would see so much water scarcity in one community, to the extent that they would sometimes be deprived even of a glass of water, yet in the neighbouring community there would be tanks overflowing, wasting drums of water at a time’.
This observation led him to design a product that, as he describes, ‘would not only reduce water wastage but bring convenience to household’.

Called ‘Aqua Brim’, it is a wireless controller for pumps that eliminates overflow and waste of water.

‘It starts the pump when the water in the tank reaches a reserve level' says Praveen, 'thus avoiding the need to pay any attention to water filling routine reducing drudgery and inconvenience’. Crucially, it also ‘stops the pump when tank is full thus preventing overflow and wastage’.

The device can also be customised easily for industrial and agricultural use.

But what is the potential impact?

Praveen estimates that if the device was installed across half of India’s urban households, it could save 300 million cubic meters of water and 550 GWH of electricity per annum. That’s half a million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year (Assumptions: Pump capacity is 200 litres per hour and 0.5 HP; Pump overruns for 10 minutes every day per household)

If one included commercial and agricultural applications in the calculation, the value could be far higher, as their uses of water and energy are often a lot larger.

For more information on this water and energy saving device, visit: www.aquabrim.com

Water conservation using a Foot Tap

Submitted by Chetan Prasad (not verified) on Sun, 11/15/2009 - 02:15.

There are several areas where water is senselessly wasted. One such that I wanted to address was wastage at the sink tap while washing or brushing. We let the water run since both our hands are occupied and we cannot operate the tap. A foot operated tap was a solution but a search for one proved difficult and also expensive. So I developed an inexpensive foot tap. The feeling of saving precious water is so gratifying that it has to be experienced to be believed. More at http://watermiser.ning.com

Very apt

Submitted by Jane (not verified) on Tue, 12/22/2009 - 11:18.

This Foot tap is such a simple and effective idea. Not that it is new, but credit should be given to the fact that it is made so cheap. Now, I guess, all those bickering at others for their woes, have something to do on their own. Great idea. Thnks

Its a wonderful initiative.

Submitted by Ajay Raghava (not verified) on Sat, 10/24/2009 - 19:07.

Its a wonderful initiative. what is the cost of the Aqua Brim? If it is effective, we need to make people and authorities to be aware of the product..

THIS WILL WORK!!

Submitted by suhani (not verified) on Wed, 05/19/2010 - 20:27.

an awareness drive in people will truly work. and when it comes to water conservation we must take the first step!!

Great Thought!

Submitted by Prashant (not verified) on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 18:28.

I think this is exactly what we need. Given the impending water crisis it is important that we conserve every drop of water. And what better than a product that combines water conservation, ease of use and cost savings! Can we ask for more? I seriously doubt that!

Climate Solutions Project

Create

Communicate

Celebrate