US firms launch R&D facility for water technologies

Metering.com 23 JUNE 2016

In the US, water management firm FATHOM partnered with Accelerate H2O and the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) to accelerate the development of smart water technologies.

Accelerate H20 is an organisation created to implement research and development of water technologies to enhance Texas’ residential, industrial, agricultural, and utility sectors.

ATI is a division of the University of Texas in Austin city which uses business, government and academic resources to help technology startups to achieve rapid growth.

Following their partnership, the three parties launched a demonstration hub for research, development and testing of innovative water technologies in Austin in Texas county.

The hub will support the development of the water technologies as well as help the developers to gain market exposure. [US firm unveils new online store for water tech].

The centre is said to fall under Texas’ efforts to curb its water challenges and become a leader in water management.

Commenting on the launch of the facility, Bart Bohn, director of Water at ATI, said: “[the hub] will help ensure the companies ATI supports have the best access to potential investors and water utility experts, including FATHOM, which will ensure the technologies scale and are effectively integrated into the fragmented water sector.”
Smart water partnerships

The collaboration between the three partners builds on to other partnerships between stakeholders in the water sector to enhance management of distribution networks through technologies.

This week, Itron partnered with smart water technology provider WaterSmart to optimise water efficiency and consumer engagement applications and expand its water portfolio.

Under the collaboration, Itron will add WaterSmart’s consumer engagement platform to its expanding water portfolio. WaterSmart’s platform is designed to help utilities become more water efficient by engaging consumers with their water usage and delivering actionable data to utilities. [Itron and WaterSmart partner on customer engagement].

And in early June, global smart infrastructure technologies provider for the utility industry Aclara partnered with Missouri American Water for the rollout of an Automated Metering Infrastructure project.

Under the contract, the solutions company will provide the water utility with a network to allow meter data acquisition and processing. Aclara claims its technology Synergize STAR will help the Missouri American Water to improve its services to some 340,000 customers in St. Louis County in the US state of Missouri. [US water utility selects Aclara for AMI rollout].