This article is start-upa series about companies using new technologies to solve industry challenges.
Drought, drought, not a drop of water everywhere, misquoting the words of an ancient sailor. It is becoming increasingly clear that the world is short of fresh water.
But while many companies are tackling carbon, a major contributor to climate change, few are focusing on water.
“Water is at the heart of the climate crisis,” said José Ignacio Galindo. water planis a company that helps businesses understand and manage water safety. “Climate change is the problem and water is the messenger.”
Waterplan’s software platform integrates public watershed data with customer water use data to help companies in water-intensive industries keep their current or future operations unaffected by drought. And, perhaps more importantly, it helps companies monitor and replenish the watersheds and aquifers we all depend on. , did not provide details about the range of fees.)
Galindo and one of his co-founders, Nicolas Wertheimer, met at the Argentina hub of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers program. Mr. Wertheimer was already working in water management and Mr. Galindo was a software engineer. They found that while there have been many innovations in carbon accounting, they are not very similar when it comes to water.
In December 2020, they hired a developer to work on a software platform that integrates local water data for industrial use. They joined the prestigious Y Combinator Startup Accelerator in the summer of 2021 as one of the program’s first water-focused climate startups.
Their timing was great. Asia and Africa have experienced drought and were facing the worst water shortages in decades. In the United States, a stretch of land from California to Texas was facing its worst drought in 1,200 years. In Europe, water levels in some rivers were so low that so-called hanger stones (river rocks that only appear during severe drought) began to appear above the water. The oldest on the river Elbe in the Czech Republic is believed to have been carved in 1616. It reads, “You will cry when you see me.”
Y Combinator’s work has attracted investors, including Richard Branson’s family and Leonardo DiCaprio, while Galindo and his co-founders hire Nick Silverman, a hydrologist at the University of Montana, as the head of science. I was able to attract and hire as. Waterplan currently has more than 30 customers, including Coca-Cola, Amazon and Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer. Waterplan is currently active in over 100 of her watersheds around the world and is growing the number of watersheds it monitors.
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“The challenge for individuals, communities and businesses is to make long-term sustainable decisions about natural resources that are so critical to life, yet so complex in their behavior and shape,” said Dr. Silberman. I’m here.
Ultimately, as regulators around the world begin implementing climate- and nature-related disclosure protocols, the information provided by Waterplan’s platform will be demanded by governments. Similar protocols established by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures are already mandated in the UK, European Union, Switzerland, Brazil, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore. And the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed climate risk disclosure rules that could go into effect by the end of the year.
Companies that disclose these risks benefit from lower capital costs compared to those that do not, said Cate Lamb, CDP’s global director of water security. companies around the world.
Climate change is not the only factor in water risk. Overconsumption, pollution and misallocation of finite resources are also contributing factors. “Unlike fossil fuels, which have alternatives, there is no alternative to freshwater,” says Lam. “Still, we’re running out of it.”
In 2020, Chile gave Canadian mining company Barrique close up the chili part Stopped construction of the $8.5 billion Pascualama gold and copper mine over concerns that it would over consume and pollute water used by locals.
Waterplan hopes its platform will eventually provide all the water data needed to meet various existing and upcoming regulations.
Cameron H. McLain, co-founder and managing partner of Giant Ventures, one of Waterplan’s primary investors, believes water security will become an increasingly important topic over the next decade.
Once the floods and fires are over, people forget the risks, but losing access to water is something no one can ignore, he said. ‘ said McLane.
Waterplan’s software combines a company’s operational data with local watershed data, satellite imagery and hydrological modeling to provide near real-time financial assessments of the risk of water disruption or closure of facilities. Users obtain this information by subscribing to web-based dashboards that provide constantly updated insights, risks, targets, and opportunities.
Based on the data, the dashboard suggests customized actions, such as implementing traditional water-saving techniques or creating nature-based solutions such as wetlands. Waterplan then monitors the results of brokerage activities through its software.
David Singer, former CEO of Coca-Cola, America’s largest company, said the water plan “determines how much water is available in an area, predicts what will happen to it, and monitors it in relatively real time.” you can,’ he said. He has acted as an informal advisor to bottling companies and water plans. Although he questioned the frequency of water data updates, he does not question the value or confusion of the data becoming more frequent. “Droughts and heavy rains affect local watersheds sooner than many realize,” Singer says.
Among Waterplan’s first customers was McCain, one of the world’s largest potato producers and a supplier of frozen French fries to McDonald’s. Sabien Lima, McCain’s Latin America Sustainability Manager, said McCain has committed to reducing its water consumption by 15% over the next three years. McCain uses his modeling of Waterplan scenarios to understand different water risks around farms and facilities in Argentina.
Another client is Amazon Web Services. Will Huth, Global Head of Water Sustainability, said of the Water Plan: What is the main problem with that basin? Who should I engage with? How should we think about water issues? “It’s really in line with what we’re doing,” he added, citing a watershed restoration project in Brazil.
For clients looking to recharge their aquifers, Waterplan analyzes the vegetation or lack of vegetation that covers an area and uses precipitation and temperature data to estimate how much water is seeping into groundwater on a monthly basis. to estimate
“We can’t know exactly how much water an aquifer contains, but we can measure changes over time,” says Jay Famiglietti, a hydrologist and former NASA senior water scientist. increase.
A reduction in groundwater infiltration can cause a drop in water tables, but it can also cause a drop in water quality. It is said that
Dr. Famiglietti, who lives in Canada, said: Warms 2 to 3 times faster The rest of the planet, according to a 2019 report by the Canadian government.
Yet many water-scarce municipalities continue to attract water-intensive industries, often with the promise that there will be enough water. Dr Famiglietti said he cringes when he hears such pitches, adding that politicians focused on a short election cycle do not necessarily understand that they are giving up on their future. .
“You tell people you have hundreds of years of water and they come and dig a well and suddenly you only have 50 years of water,” he said.
Businesses also risk creating the perception that they are leaving nearby communities without sufficient clean water. A water plan helps clients understand how much water they have, how much they need, and how those variables are changing over time. Companies can then invest in restoration activities such as reforestation and wetland conservation, which can have a significant impact on aquifer restoration.
Increasingly, companies are turning to so-called nature-based solutions to return water to the areas from which it is drawn. On the one hand, there is the possibility of using harvested rainwater, air-cooled condensate and reclaimed wastewater.
When drought reduces surface water and lowers the water table, businesses dig deeper for water. But deeper wells date back to geological history and draw water that was placed there thousands, if not millions of years ago. But deeper aquifers containing so-called fossil water take thousands of years to replenish.
“We need to adapt quickly,” Galindo warned. “The freshwater problem is accelerating faster than most people realize.”