Current water crisis is impacting consumers:

• Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California, has proposed 20% reduction in urban per capita use by 2020 (http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/water_issues/hot_topics/20×2020/index.shtml)
• EBMUD has instituted 10% voluntary rationing in 2009
• Sonoma County has banned use of sprinklers for frost protection (http://www.napawatersheds.org/news.php?display=1&oid=22493)

Opportunities exist in water efficiency:

• In drought, utilities’ budget for water efficiency can increase 30-100% e.g. EBMUD typically spends $4-5M per year on water efficiency.  Last year the budget doubled.
• 19% of state’s electricity use associated with water
• Severe underinvestment in water infrastructure (EBMUD has 4000 miles of pipe and replace 7-10 miles and 10,000 meters annually)
  • Recommended History Channel’s “Crumbling of America” program

Current water efficiency purchases:

• Agriculture (Nick Frey, Sonoma County Winegrape Commission)
  • Drip irrigation systems
  • Soil moisture sensors
  • Weather stations
• Industrial (Anne Jackson, PG&E)
  • Smart meters for irrigation
  • Lo flow/no flow toilets
  • Faucet aeration systems
• Commercial (Anthony Ravitz, Google)
  • Water efficient plumbing fixtures

Greatest needs:

• Agriculture (Nick Frey, Sonoma County Winegrape Commission)
  • Technology that delivers timely information
• Industrial (Anne Jackson, PG&E)
  • Technology to optimize cooling for solar thermal systems
    • Issue: wet cooled systems more economic but require water in often arid environments
• Commercial (Marty Laporte, Stanford)
  • Software integration for data collection
• Commercial (Anthony Ravitz, Google)
  • Technology that offers multiple benefits e.g. water and energy efficient
• Consumer (Richard Harris, EBMUD)
  • Automated water meter reading technology
  • Software that integrates water use data

Other needs mentioned:

• Commercial (Marty Laporte, Stanford)
  • “Hard-fixes” that don’t require ongoing behavior change e.g. “Landscape contractor”-proof irrigation controllers, Watermiser system on autoclaves/sterilizers
  • “Lego-block” modules for efficient irrigation systems and controllers
  • Ways to reuse reverse osmosis reject water (relevant to biotech and semiconductor industries)
• Commercial (Anthony Ravitz, Google)
  • “Landscape contractor”-proof irrigation controllers
  • No-flow urinals without the “expensive cartridge” syndrome
  • Cost effective retrofit options for existing buildings
• Industrial (Anne Jackson, PG&E)
  • Real-time water use monitors
• Consumer (Richard Harris, EBMUD)
  • Cooling towers
  • Process water
  • Medical waste
  • Food processing
  • Hospitality
  • Noted that indoor plumbing, outdoor irrigation for residential markets are well-served

Submitted by  Gypsy Achong

Water Efficiency Ideation Workshop Panel

Wherever there is a challenge, there is also an opportunity, perhaps a business opportunity. That’s the approach of a San Francisco-based startup trying to help solve some of the water shortages facing the Bay Area, much of the Golden State, and many countries and regions around the globe.

ImagineH2O, an ambitious non-profit with a mission to inspire and empower people to solve the world’s water problems, held a Water Efficiency Ideation Workshop Thursday night at the Palo Alto offices of Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP, one of the organization’s sponsoring partners. The panel and roundtable event was attended by one hundred people interested in water-related businesses, including venture capitalists, researchers, entrepreneurs and industry experts.

ImagineH2O intends to hold similar events in the future to create what they describe as a healthy ecosystem to enable water innovation. The group will also host prize competitions, beginning with its inaugural water business plan competition. Kicking off September 1st, the initial competition offers cash prizes totaling $50,000, and a water innovation incubator program to help competing entrepreneurs turn their plans into real-world solutions. The 2009-10 competition will focus on water efficiency.

Thursday’s event was ImagineH2O’s latest effort to nurture a community that connects water conservation experts and entrepreneurs with potential partners and customers in business, government and academia.

Five panelists, representing interests as diverse as agriculture, business, energy and water utilities, and academia, shared with the audience what their organizations commonly buy in terms of water-related goods and services. Of key interest to entrepreneurs, they also offered what they see as unmet needs. Tamin Pechet, ImagineH2O Chairman and Executive Director, moderated the panel, and prompted panelists to share that one thing they’d most like to see offered by a business or non-profit.

Marty Laporte, Stanford University’s Associate Director of Utilities, offered that she’d like to see better software for efficiently managing data. She shared how Stanford had reduced its overall water consumption by hundreds of thousands of gallons since 2007, even with new construction on campus. Laporte lamented, however, that her team’s efforts to further effect water conservation at Stanford are somewhat stymied by relatively limited software. She said she doesn’t really need more data, but rather better ways to integrate existing data. “It’s too one-dimensional,” Laporte told listeners.

Richard Harris agreed, explaining how as Water Conservation Manager for the East Bay Municipal Utility District (MUD), he would like to see a third-party software provider develop interactive programs that would one day let MUD’s customers monitor their home water use with on-line tools. Second-by-second water meters could allow such a detailed view, and Harris shared that the District is pursuing a pilot program along those lines. He also cautioned that sustained water conservation will require not only solutions of technology, but also behavior change by each of us as users of water.

Anne Jackson, representing Pacific Gas & Electric on the panel, said “It’s interesting to see how similar many organizations’ needs are. There’s a lot of synergy.” Another panel member, Anthony Ravitz, said that a lot of work had been done on the energy conservation side, so it’s appropriate that similar efforts follow now for water conservation. Ravitz, representing Google, said “I learned a lot at this event, personally. One of our biggest issues is we don’t have a lot of solutions for some of these challenges. Google is supportive of this type of effort and we’re happy to be involved.”

As the new niche known as “clean tech” continues to take off, Pechet is hopeful water-related start-ups will be amongst the next high-growth companies to come out of the Bay Area. “ImagineH2O is about bringing world leaders together to discuss solutions that have both a social impact and major market opportunity. We’re trying to unleash Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial community on our world’s water problems,” he said.

How fitting that in a place with so many water challenges, the region’s best and brightest now look to turn some of those problems into opportunities.

On the Net:

ImagineH2O: http://www.imagineh2o.org/

Cooley Godward Kronish, LLP: http://www.cooley.com/index.aspx

Submitted by Greg Pepping

http://waterefficiency.eventbrite.com/
IMAGINE H2O AND COOLEY GODWARD KRONISH LLP PRESENT:
THE WATER EFFICIENCY CUSTOMER: AN IDEATION WORKSHOP FOR WATER EFFICIENCY BUSINESSES

What: a unique evening for identifying water customers’ needs, brainstorming ideas and building teams.
When: Thursday August 20, 2009, 6-8:30pm
Where: Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, 3715 Hanover St., Palo Alto, CA 94304
Why: In anticipation of the upcoming launch of the inaugural Imagine H2O Prize for water efficiency business plans, we’re offering entrepreneurs, innovators, and the public a chance to hear from and talk to customers of water efficiency products and services.
Program:

• Identification of specific market needs and opportunities by leaders in Industrial, Agricultural, Consumer and Water Utility market segments, including answers to questions like

1. What products and services in water and wastewater do you currently buy and how much do you spend?
2. What are your biggest, most critical needs that you would pay most for?
3. What should an entrepreneur selling a water or wastewater product or service to your company focus on?

• Brainstorming facilitated by the market segment leaders towards addressing those needs, with participation from venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, business leaders and technology experts.

• Expert resources for water entrepreneurs, including breakout tables with venture capitalists, Imagine H2O representatives, Cooley Godward Kronish cleantech and venture capital attorneys, and Pricewaterhouse Coopers cleantech practice leaders.

Speakers and expert advisors include
1. Richard Harris (Water Conservation Manager, East Bay Municipal District)
2. Tamin Pechet (Principal, Catamount Ventures and Chairman, Imagine H2O)
3. Anthony Ravitz (Green building and Sustainability, Google)
4. Marty Laporte ( Associate Director of Utilities, Stanford University)
5. Jim Fulton (Parter, Cooley Godward Kronish and Head of Emerging Companies Practice)
6. Steve Bengston (Director of Emerging Company Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers)
7. Harsha Prahlad (Senior Research Engineer, SRI International)
Register at: http://waterefficiency.eventbrite.com/