December 14, 2017, by The Ingenuity Lab

Ingenuity18: Water Is Life

“Being part of The Ingenuity Lab gave me access to a support network that guided me through the unfamiliar territory of finance, marketing, IP, sales, pitching and admin. Having won the first ever UNIP Prize at Ingenuity17, I’ve now got a free office in The Ingenuity Centre which made room to conduct a professional team who looks after various aspects of the business while I focus on lead generation.”

Quensus CEO, Dr Dan Simmons, set up his company while studying for his PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 2015. His business offers smart metering for water, allowing customers to view real-time water usage, billing reports and leakage alerts using a simple app from anywhere in the world. These smart meters can learn your normal consumption and automatically turn the water off to prevent water damage. By empowering consumers to self-manage their consumption, water scarcity can be prevented for future generations.

Water is Life

Water crises are among the biggest global risks in the next 10 years, according to the World Economic Forum

in a 2017 report. In fact, “water crises” has been in the top 5 global risks for the last 6 years, and is currently sat at number 3 in order of impact.

Only 0.007% of the planet’s water is clean and accessible. Most of this delicious water is stored in underground aquifers, and is being used far more quickly than it is being replenished. With water use growing at more than twice the rate of population increase, this is clearly unsustainable.

Wherever they are, people need water to survive. Unfortunately, humans have proved to be inefficient water users – the average hamburger takes 2,400 litres of water to produce. By 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world’s population living in water-stressed regions because of inefficiency, growth, and climate change.

Man Collecting Water In Bucket From Ceiling. Ceiling panels damaged huge hole in roof from rainwater leakage.Water damaged ceiling .

The challenge we face now is how to effectively conserve, manage, and distribute the water we have. An easy

win is to prevent water from being wasted in the form of leaks, since 60% of all water consumption is lost this way! Which is how Quensus have been tackling this issue.

Currently, Quensus has a handful of smart water meters installed across the UK in commercial and residential environments, and have saved customers over £30,000 worth of water per year. But this is just the beginning.

You can find out more at www.quensus.com.

If you would like to find out more about Ingenuity18, please visit www.nottingham.ac.uk/go/ingenuity18 . You can also find out about the winning a High-Level Business Mentor through the Mentor30Engineers Competition here

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