Hydrolosophy: Harvard Startup Measures Product Water Footprint

At the beginning of the decade, 1 billion people didn't have sufficient clean access to clean water. - World Health Organization

Did you know that it cumulatively takes 10 liters of water to produce one sheet of paper? Or, 91 liters of water to produce 1 pound of plastic? Generally speaking it requires 80 liters of water per dollar to produce any industrial product. You would also think that it would take 1 glass of water to produce 1 glass of wine. But, that thought process doesn't include the incremental amounts of water that go into producing the grapes, everything in between production, and the the incremental amounts of water in other processes required to store or ship the wine.

It's a problem I never thought of until I met Warren Anderson at the latest Ultra Light Startups event. He's a Harvard graduate student working on a startup called Hydrolosophy. They're building software that crunches algorithms to compute the total amount of water it takes to manufacture different kinds of products. By tracking, analyzing, and measuring water consumption through production, companies may be able to save big bucks. Their goal is to "reveal the truth about water consumption in America and around the world, by creating disruptively innovative applications aimed at providing cost savings solutions to businesses that rely upon water as an interal part of their product life-cycle."

A growing need for accessible clean water.  

Not only is this good for the bottom line, but its good for the economy and sustainability of human civilization. We actually need There's been a concern about the world's clean water supply and how shortages are effecting third world countries. According to Wong Poh Poh, a professor at Singapore University, global warming has been "disrupting water flow patterns and increasing the severity of floods, droughts and storms — all of which reduce the availability of drinking water."

According to the World Health Organization, 1.1 billion people did not have sufficient clean water at the beginning of the decade. This will only continue to worsen as emerging economies scale, global warming escalates, and if we can't produce inexpensive water cleansing technology that can be deployed in around the world.

How bad will it get?

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found that by 2050, 2 billion people won't have access to a sufficient supply of clean water. By 2080, this number is expected to climb to 3.2 billion. The same article explains that reduced access to clean water "refers to water that can be used for drinking, bathing or cooking — forces many villagers in poor countries to walk miles to reach supplies. Others, including those living in urban shanties, suffer from diseases caused by drinking from unclean sources."

What is the concept of Hydrolosophy?

1. The philosophy of water, its effects and interdependencies upon a world at thirst.

2. The attitude of water, as one of composure and calm in the presence of drought.

3. A system of principles for guidance in water affairs.

4. The rational investigation of the truths surrounding water.

5. The love of water; in actual usage, the knowledge of water as explained by, and resolved into, causes and rasons, powers and laws.

How much water does it take to produce the following goods?

1 Sheet of paper: 10 liters
1 Slice of bread: 40 liters
1 Apple: 70 liters
$1/Industrial product: 80 liters
1 Pound of plastic: 91 liters
1 Glass of wine: 120 liters
1 Cup of coffee: 140 liters
1 Kilogram of wheat: 1,300 liters
1 Kilogram of pork: 4,800 liters
1 Pair of jeans: 10,855
1 Kilogram of beef: 15,500
1 Kilogram of leather: 16,600

[Image and water facts from IBM's A Smarter Planet]