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Where is the next big opportunity in Water?
TechVenture 2013
[email protected] +65 9118 2794
Frank LevinsonSmall World Group Incubator PTE LTD
71 Ayer Rajah Crescent, #07-05 www.smallworldgroup.com
Hint - It is not in just technology. There are nearly 1B people without simple access to clean water. But serving them is more about details and less about one magic solution
“When the Rivers Run Dry: Water - The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-first Century”
Tanzania: national mapping shows 41% of 53,423 water points are not functional -Improve International
failure rate for most water points in Africa at anywhere from 30-60%.
- Voss Foundation
The Aral Sea, once the world's fourth largest inland water body with a
surface of 67,300 km2 is now gone due to ineffective deployment of technology
- National Geographic
More than 3x more people lack water than live in the
United StatesLack of community involvement causes 50% of other projects to fail
5 Vignettes
What are the major uses of Water?
Major Uses•Power generation uses nearly 50% of
water in industrialized economies
• Irrigation uses another ~30% of water to grow food and fibers for clothing
•People use surprisingly little water for personal use; more for cleaning things and disposal of personal waste than for drinking!
• This means that the value of low flow shower heads, low flush toilets, more efficient laundry machines - while helpful - will not have a major impact on overall water use around the world
49%
31%
Can large scale projects change things?
Hoover Dam on the Colorado River
USA
Great Man Made River project in
Libya
Giant Tech Projects
The Aral Sea, once the world's fourth largest inland water body with a
surface of 67,300 km2 is now gone due to ineffective deployment of technology
- National Geographic
The fossil aquifer from which this water is being supplied is the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System. It accumulated during the last ice age and is not currently being replenished. Independent estimates indicate that the aquifer could be depleted of water in as soon as 60 to 100 years.[7]
it is the largest underground network of pipes (2820 km) [2] and aqueducts in the world. It consists of more than 1,300 wells, most more than 500 m deep, and supplies 6,500,000 m3 of fresh water per day to the cities of Tripoli, Benghazi, Sirte and elsewhere.
- Wikipedia
Historically, Gulf salinity was measured at between 35,000 and 37,000 parts per million (ppm), but Dr Barghouti quotes figures by the UAE Ministry of Environment and Water which show that 10 years ago salinity was at 42,000 ppm but in parts is now close to 56,000 ppm.
- The National
Who Suffers the Most?
Its poor women and children who are impacted the most.
These people not the target customers for most of the high tech developers in this room.
Why is Water Handling So Tough?
Bad things so small we cannot see them live, thrive and multiply in water
Water is corrosive to many construction materials normally used for pumps, electrical elements, sensors
Water expands when it freezes and can break system elements from the pressure exerted from the transition from liquid to solid
Many elements have ions that can be soluble in water; many of these can be harmful to human life.
Why do many water projects fail?
When the solution becomes a problem: 50.000 water supply points failed in Africa
At the recent World Water Day, a report from the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) warned that an estimated 50,000 boreholes, wells and hand-pumps are falling into disrepair across the African continent. The water supply points were in many cases built recently with donor support, but are now failing as a result of poor planning and lack of resources. Some 250 million US Dollars worth of aid may have been lost.
Many projects were turned over to village “elders” but it was the village mothers who were most motivated and best able to maintain and keep the local clean water working.
Too little studies were done on system and component lifetimes, wear out mechanisms, inventory and replacement strategies and supply chains to keep systems working. No overall system of field data collection was implemented.
When failures occurred, systems delivered water that was bad and this resulted in loss of trust in the system which was very difficult to restore.
When failures occurred, systems delivered water that was bad and this resulted in loss of trust in the system which was very difficult to restore.
Tragedy of the commons - consider 2 carrot farms that share the same river. If one farmer can use all of the water (even wastefully) what is best for him alone? Use it all. Competitive access to water can drive failure mechanisms.
Why Is It So Hard To Invent Great Water Products?
TechVenture 2013
[email protected] +65 9118 2794
Frank LevinsonSmall World Group Incubator PTE LTD
71 Ayer Rajah Crescent, #07-05 www.smallworldgroup.com
We dream of things that are elegant, beautiful, full of features and functionality.
But we forget the big picture - who will use it, how long should it last, how will we verify it worked as designed and over long times?
And so instead of beautiful clean water we end up with this ... worse yet ... we end up with water that looks great but still degrades quality of life because the users cannot tell failure.
We can blame ...
Politics
Very long term changes
Lack of Focus
Long product cycles
Miscalculations
Tradegy of the Commons
Regulations
Climate Change
Panel Discussion Points
• What are some of the recent innovations in the water technology space?
• How has the investment landscape for the water technology space evolved over the last few years and where is it lacking?
• How can startups take advantage of this industry?
RO
OR ?
Find a NicheDelight Customres
Why Si
emen
s is Se
lling I
ts
Water P
rocess
ing D
ivisio
n
Some big players are leaving while startups find it hard to identify defensible niches
Panel Members
• Dr Frank Levinson - MD, Small World Group
• Roger Rosche - CEO, WiseWater
• Prof Ng Wun Jern - Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI)
• Dr Andreas Hauser, TUV SUD
• Dr. Adil Dhalla, GE Singapore Water Technology Center
VC
Startup
Research
Standards
Industry
