Water is critical to the functioning of any civil society, enabling complex sewage systems to work, clothes, dishes, and bodies to be cleansed, and people, plants, and pets to stay hydrated.
As a result, we use a lot of it: According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the US uses an average of about 322 billion gallons of water per day, with the average American family using 300 gallons of water per day, according to the Water Research Foundation.
Naturally, several companies have built businesses around harnessing technology to manage this load for cities, utilities, and companies. Two such examples are Ketos and Hydropoint. The former does water-quality monitoring, and the latter helps businesses manage their water use. Each uses tech like automation and IoT to give real-time updates on key water metrics to cities, utilities, and businesses—let’s break them down.