From Microbial Fuel Cells to Macro Flood Barriers, Water Innovation in Action
by Sonam Velani and Kathy ZhangLast week thousands of people gathered in New York for the first UN Water Conference in almost 50 years, concluding with over 700 commitments to make the world “water secure.” A sampling of the commitments include $49 billion by the United States to invest in resilient water and sanitation infrastructure and services, a pledge by Vietnam to better manage its major river basins, and a $20 million fund from the EU to better track wastewater for diseases like Covid-19. All in all, governments and businesses are finally aiming to invest in “water security” in a relatively insecure world.
We were glad so many of you could join us for Making Waves, where we were able to bring together our favorite blue tech entrepreneurs and investors for a wide ranging discussion on the technologies and financing structures that can help us get to “water security”! Everything from Hydronomy’s solar powered atmospheric water generator to Cobalt Water Global’s data modeling and artificial intelligence tools for sustainable water management were on the docket, and we heard how investors from Streetlife Ventures and Water Asset Management evaluate the growth opportunities in this sector. The best part: water is all around us and our friends at the RETI Center have tons of educational and workforce programming to get you out on the shores to learn more! A huge thanks to the Consulate General of the Netherlands for hosting us at the Water House and to all of you for joining our special NY Climate Tech meetup, complete with the Champagne of H2O!
NY Climate Tech and the Consulate General of the Netherlands hosted a special event on innovation in the water sector for Water Week! Left to right: Sonam Velani, Co-Founder of NY Climate Tech and Streetlife Ventures, Brittany Kendrick, Co-Founder of Hydronomy, Jose Porro, Founder of Cobalt Water Global, Kaila Wilson, Director of Energy Development at the RETI Center, and Matthew Diserio, Co-Founder of Water Asset Management.
Water innovation left and right!
As we’ve been sharing over the past month, water is both an essential resource and a destructive force - making water-related solutions wide ranging across a range of hardware and software solutions. There are plenty of smart people building new companies and products in this space, and we’re highlighting a few of the cutting edge solutions tackling the global water challenge, from decentralized water treatment and reuse, to large-scale monitoring and projections of water levels, and more!
Aquacycl’s mobile shipping container of fuel cells for on-site water treatment and energy generation (Source: The Business Journal)
Aquacycl - on-site water treatment using microbial fuel cells, which also generates electricity which can power essential process controls; manufacturing applications include Pepsi
Drinkwell - mobile money-enabled water “ATMs” which dispense clean water with low-cost filtration systems; currently deployed by Dhaka WASA, a water utility in Bangladesh serving 17 million people
Hydraloop - home-based water recycling systems for homes & small business that capture and clean greywater from showers and appliances for reuse in toilets, washing machines, and garden irrigation; received UN award for its patented technology
FloodMapp - flood modeling tool integrating real-time data; recently contracted by FEMA to provide insights for emergency response
Hydrosat - satellite thermal infrared imagery of the earth’s surface, including water stress for forecast crop yields (pilot data seems promising!)
Home-grown NYC coastal resilience projects
In 2013, the year after Hurricane Sandy hit the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast coast, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launched Rebuild by Design, a massive, multi-stage design competition to surface the most innovative and sustainable solutions to strengthen coastal infrastructure and communities against future climate-related disasters. The selected projects are funded jointly by federal and local government, with construction underway for several of them.
The BIG U, the 10-mile protective system for Lower Manhattan (Source: NYC Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency)
The Rebuild by Design jury of technical experts and community leaders selected seven proposed projects overall. Like most things in New York, they are not without controversy, but aim to protect the most vulnerable using a variety of gray and green infrastructure across our shorelines:
Manhattan - The Big U
Phase 1: East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) - The City of New York and US Army Corps of Engineers have come together to reduce flood risk along Manhattan’s east side from 25th St down to Montgomery Street - addressing the pinch points in the 100-yr flood plain and improving waterfront public amenities.
Phase 2: Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency (LMCR) - A series of projects will extend the Lower Manhattan shoreline into the East River to protect low-lying areas particularly around the Seaport and Financial District – some of the wealthiest zip codes in America!
The Bronx - Hunts Point Resiliency - You probably had no idea that 60% of our produce and 50% of meat consumed by all New Yorkers passes through the Hunts Point Food Distribution Center on the South Bronx waterfront! A new resiliency project aims to deploy microgrids, energy storage infrastructure, and mobile generators to ensure the neighborhood (and your food) stays safe!
Staten Island - Living Breakwaters - Designed by one of our favorite landscape architecture firms, SCAPE Studio, the Living Breakwaters are specially designed nature-based solutions that create a diverse mosaic of habitat conditions to restore marine life while also protecting the Raritan Bay and shores of Staten Island. Approximately 2,400 linear feet of shoreline are “under construction” and we can’t wait to see more of these natural ecosystems come to life across the New York harbor!
There are plenty more projects across the region, including New Meadowlands and Hudson River protecting our friends in New Jersey (we love you too!). An evaluation of the Rebuild by Design projects highlights the many innovative practices and resource challenges, and puts forth recommendations on how to engage local communities with greater consistency and how to replicate and scale the multi-sectoral approaches for other large-scale design competitions.
It’s important to note that no singular or even suite of technical solutions can solve the problems of water management. Creative policies, financing models, and local engagement are essential in deploying and scaling the use of promising water technologies in climate adaptation and mitigation strategies.
To dig deeper into more case studies of water innovations, check out:
Examples from US local governments (US Environmental Protection Agency)
Water & sanitation tech (World Economic Forum UpLink)
Green Technology Book (UN World Intellectual Property Organization)
by Sonam Velani and Kathy Zhang