These Chennai engineers use IoT devices and software to curb water wastage

WEGoT Technologies is looking at save 10 billion litres of water by 2022 using sensor-based IoT devices and software platform

India is facing the worst water crisis in its history, with 21 cities slated to run out of groundwater by 2020. More than 600 million Indians, or nearly half of the population, face acute shortages, according to the government data. 

This gave enough food for thought to five Chennai-based engineers – Vijay Krishna, Sundeep Donthamshetty, Mohamed Mohideen, Abilash Haridass and Selvakumar A B – who started a company in 2015 to try to solve some of these problems. 

WEGoT Technologies, the company they founded, aims to provide sustainable water use practices at residential and commercial properties using technology. The company has built a sensor-based Internet of Things device and a software platform VenAqua, which help reduce the demand for water by more than 50 per cent by tracking real-time water flow. 

Traditionally, flow meters are installed at the water source of various buildings. But these meters only give information on how much water is being consumed by the entire building. They aren't able to provide information about individual consumption, leakages, open taps and other water saving inputs based on history and consumption patterns. 

WEGoT is looking at changing this. Its sensor-based IoT solution captures information in a multi-inlet plumbing layout and provides the end-user with real-time data. The information includes minute-by-minute consumption details; alerts such as usage, leak detection, open taps, and predictions based on historical data and consumption patterns of inlets in a commercial property. This helps people make real-time decisions and decrease consumption. Customers also receive their water consumption pattern and data on their mobile phones directly.

WEGoT has installed this technology in more than 30,000 houses across 12 cities covering around 20 million sq ft of residential and commercial properties. “We have helped customers save 1 billion litres of water so far and expect to save 10 billion litres of water by 2022,” said Abilash Haridass, co-founder of WEGoT. 

In Chennai, Appaswamy Cityside Homeowners Association faced various problems related to to water and the consequential spiralling maintenance costs that led to increased conflicts among the residents. They were looking for a solution that provided data on water usage to reduce the conflicts and gain insights to reduce the price paid for water. Cityside consists of 136 apartments – a mixture of 2- and 3-BKHs (bedroom, kitchen, hall), penthouses and a swimming pool. After the installation of VenAqua at Cityside, the total cost of water per month came down by about Rs 2 lakh.

“We are also having discussions with the government on how we can help them save more water,” says Haridass. WEGoT is also exploring markets such as the Middle East, Australia and Africa for its technology. 

In India, the company charges Rs 149-299 per house for the technology, depending on the features that the user chooses. However, the installation cost depends on the building type and pipe sizes.       

WEGoT’s innovation is crucial at a time when more than 40 per cent of the annually available surface water is used every year. About 200,000 people die each year due to lack of access to safe drinking water. The situation is likely to worsen as the demand will exceed supply by 2050, says the ‘Composite Water Management Index’ (CWMI) report by government think tank NITI Aayog, released last year. The report says 21 Indian cities, including Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi, will run out of groundwater by 2020, affecting 100 million people, and 40 per cent of India’s population will have no access to drinking water by 2030.

Venture capital investors have also realised the importance of the problem WEGoT is addressing. Earlier this year, the firm raised seed funding of $2 million from angel investors, Kumar Vembu, CEO of tech firm GoFrugal, Shyam Sekhar, founder of investment advisory firm ithought, and Brigade Enterprises Ltd.

"Currently, there is still a lack of proper technology in the industry that can provide actionable insights to tackle the ongoing water crisis. The fact that WEGoT’s breakthrough technology addresses this particular issue has rendered it one of the most interesting technology brands that I have come across in recent times,” says Vembu of GoFrugal. “Incorporating data-driven efficiencies in water management solutions holds great promise in the commercial real estate sector, and I strongly believe WEGoT is positioned to disrupt this space with their high precision IoT-based water management solution.”

Globally, water scarcity already affects every continent. Around 1.2 billion people, or almost a fifth of the world's population, live in areas of physical scarcity, and 500 million people are approaching this situation, according to the United Nations. Another 1.6 billion, or almost a quarter of the world's population, face economic water shortage (where countries lack the necessary infrastructure to take water from rivers and aquifers).

Another company, Maithri Aquatech, based in Hyderabad has developed Meghdoot, India’s first indigenous Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG) machine, which uses a novel technology to produce pure drinking water from atmospheric water vapour. The device can provide high-quality drinking water for up to 2,000 people a day. 

The atmosphere contains 37,500 trillion gallons of water in the form of moisture. Only one per cent of that is enough to fulfil global water needs, says M Ramkrishna, founder and managing director of Maithri Aquatech.

According to him, Maithri’s solution is capable of converting atmospheric humidity into potable water at an affordable cost. One litre of Meghdoot’s clean, microbe-free, re-mineralised water costs about Rs 1.70 as opposed to Rs 20 for a litre of bottled water by reputed brands such as Bisleri.