Creating a Collaborative Water Future

Christine Boyle, founder of Valor Water Analytics, wants to see more collaborations between the technology and water sectors. She spoke to Water Deeply about smarter use of data and the humanity at the heart of water work.

Christine Boyle was  working on her PhD at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, when she first developed the idea for Valor Water Analytics – a startup that uses innovative software to help water utilities analyze their data, detect revenue loss and make more efficient decisions.

Since receiving her doctorate in water resource planning in 2011, Boyle has developed an award-winning company that works with utilities in different states and recently received $1.6 million in seed funding.

Valor hopes to use the new funds to grow its business across the United States, to expand into additional utility verticals and to move beyond meter data into sensor-based technologies.

Boyle says there’s much California can accomplish if more technology and water collaborations take place. “There’s so much that could be done if there was more collaboration, if there was some sort of trust building and risk-free ways to share information between big tech companies and water districts,” she told Water Deeply. “Currently, no one wants to go first, but once we’ll have some successful examples, many will follow.”

Water Deeply recently spoke with Boyle as part of “Meet the Minds,” our series canvassing California water experts.

WD: What are you currently working on that you want the world to know about?

Christine Boyle: We are helping utilities operate smarter by leveraging data they already have, their customer meter data, to improve operational processes, address broken meters and essentially save a lot of money and water.

WD: What is the most surprising thing that you’ve discovered through this work?

Boyle: There’ve been lots of surprises. But one of the biggest ones has been seeing how different companies that are helping water utilities have failed to deliver products that help those utilities think through long-term problems. Some data companies have sold water utilities choppy and unsophisticated technologies that don’t actually allow them to reach their long-term goals.

In addition, some companies have charged water utilities tens of thousands of dollars to access data the utilities needed to report back to the state. That means that some water utilities are paying up to $30,000 to get access to their own data.

WD: Looking out 10 years from now, what do you hope California will have accomplished when it comes to water issues?

Boyle: I hope that the rates of water reuse will be very high and that a lot more closed-loop water technology will be used at the industrial and municipal level and in agriculture. I would also hope that there’s massive transparency about water use, from the utility to the customer, from the utility to the region, from the region to the state. There needs to be a lot more sharing of basic water use information.

WD: You’re in an interesting place because you’re both in the tech world and the water world. What are some of the things that could be done to accelerate such collaboration?

Boyle: I’ve had a lot of conversations with big tech companies about what they want to do in water, and the answer usually is “nothing.”

Companies like Apple and Google don’t see water as very modern. A lot of it comes down to one thing – tech companies are begging for data. For example, Sidewalk Labs is an Alphabet company that is doing a lot of great work on electricity and measuring transportation.

They’re working with large electricity and gas providers, but water utilities won’t work with them or even release data to them. There’s so much that could be done if there was more collaboration, if there was some sort of trust building and risk-free ways to share information between big tech companies and water districts. Currently, no one wants to go first, but once we’ll have some successful examples, many will follow.

Read full interview at: Water Deeply