Innovation Pipeline

Water scarcity is a big problem for much of the western United States. But recently other parts of the U.S. unaccustomed to the pinch at the pipe have been feeling the pain. Areas like Raleigh, North Carolina, and Atlanta, which have awakened to huge challenges in the drinking-water department.

Is the growing problem of scarcity spurring better water management and infrastructure investment (25 to 30 percent of drinking water is lost to leaks)?

Recent survey data from Changewave Research indicates there has actually been a slowdown in spending.

The survey was taken in the first quarter of this year and addressed 147 water-industry and technology buyers. Two-thirds of respondents (67 percent) said overall spending on water projects will increase over the next 12 months. But that’s a 14-percent decline since Changewave’s previous survey, in June 2007.

Where will the money go? Survey respondents said wastewater treatment and water-infrastructure repair were the big magnets for investment over the next two years. The companies leading the way in water-sector spending are General Electric and Flowserve.

In parts of the world where spending money is more difficult, cost and efficiency is at a premium and low-tech water machinery is gaining a foothold. Technologies such as that offered by Pure Home Water, a nonprofit founded by MIT senior lecturer Susan Murcott three years ago. Pure Home Water sells low-cost ceramic water-filter systems to residents of northern Ghana, an area where water contamination is a common problem. In Africa, the average volume of water consumed per person is 5 gallons a day. In the US, when food is factored into water consumption, the number hits 158 gallons a day.

Murcott’s invention was designed to help those people able to spend very little money. It’s simply a terracotta pottery vessel with filters to remove bacteria, viruses and other hazards from drinking water. One filter serves the needs of about six people. And it tackles a big challenge for a lot of villagers in a cost-efficient way.

The lesson to learn: start fixing developed countries’ infrastructure before we’re all using Murcott’s device. –Lee Bruno