Water is an important resource in industries such as agriculture, construction, and manufacturing. In rural and less developed areas, water resource management can be complicated and challenging, especially for utility companies, largely due to a lack of infrastructure and expertise.
Hence, when water distribution systems are not managed efficiently, it can result in a myriad of problems for water utility companies as well as consumers.
For example, poorly managed water systems can lead to water leakage and wastage. Leakages are also considered a form of non-revenue water (NRW), which can lead to high operational expenditure for utility companies.
Hiraya Water is a Philippines-based company that has developed a solution to address these issues. The company’s flagship product is a “real-time adjusting pump system” (R-TAP), which can help regulate pressure applied inside a water distribution network.
R-TAP leverages the use of sensors to collect data from various components of a water distribution system, such as pumps, tanks, and valves. The information is then analyzed with a proprietary algorithm to manage the water distribution network more efficiently.
For instance, R-TAP’s AI can help optimize the operations of water pumps to prevent high supply pressure within a water system. Water utility companies that integrate R-TAP into their systems can also reap cost savings on maintenance and energy consumption.
In addition, R-TAP has an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), which allows its users to optimize their data operations through an online dashboard where users can manage customer information, meter readings, as well as billing and payments. Users will also be able to monitor the water network distribution in real-time and detect problems such as water theft, leaks, and malfunctioning meters.
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Led by Stephen Larcia (CEO), Hiraya Water was founded in 2014 after Larcia and his team placed among the top ten winning teams at IdeaSpace Foundation’s National Technology Startup Competition, held in the Philippines that year.
R-TAP’s development is backed by grants from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in the Philippines, and Development Innovation Ventures—the open innovation program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Hiraya Water applied to take part in the Project AsiaForward Alibaba Cloud Global Startup Accelerator Philippines Demo Day, held online on February 8, 2022.