Start-ups Aim to Aid Drought-stricken California

Silicon Valley Investing inWaterTechnology

The three-year drought in California is making history, and not in a good way. It's officially the worst drought on record for the state, already costingover $2 billion and 17,000 jobs.

Now start-ups from Silicon Valley, like the neighboring farms and residents, are trying to alleviate the problem, for example:

Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville, Californiahas teamed up with start-upTerrAvion, which has received funding from incubator Y-Combinator, a company that flies manned aircraft over farmland and gives growers thermal images that can show farmers potential trouble spots when it comes to irrigation.

WaterSmart Software, which has received funding from the likes of The Westly Group and Menlo Ventures, works with water utilities to supply detailed, easy-to-understand information to customers on their water use. For example: showing how much water one home may be using versus another of the same size.

Jeff Lipton of WaterSmart Software says: "You can in some way think of WaterSmart as a virtual reservoir. As people are prompted through this social comparison approach to use less water to improve their water efficiency, you are effectively creating more reserves in the reservoirs for other people to use."

Expect more from Silicon Valley as this water crisis continues, not just from entrepreneurs but from investors.

Source: CBCN

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