Today the IC² Institute’s Austin Technology Incubator launched a water technology incubator called ATI Water to accelerate the development of innovative water startups. ATI Water will build a Texas-wide network of entrepreneurs and university-based water researchers. In the next five years, ATI expects to help create 500 new water-technology jobs through this network. ATI IT/Wireless Director Bart Bohn will lead this new effort.
“If we don’t figure out what to do with the coming water shortage, humanity is severely screwed. That is the kind way to put it.”
The announcement was made as part of the White House Water Summit, where ATI and water researchers at The University of Texas at Austin are leading or participating in six “commitments” out of 150 nationwide announced by the the Obama Administration. The Summit coincides with World Water Day. The full White House Water Summit Report is available online.
Commitments were developed and proposed by academic researchers, entrepreneurs, business leaders and policymakers from across the country before the White House selected the final projects to be highlighted at the Water Summit.
UT Austin submitted commitments to offer support, resources and expertise in several critical areas. The university has broad expertise in water-related research — from flood forecasting to hydroelectric energy and water safety to big data.
Two professors will represent UT Austin at the summit: David Maidment, an expert in surface water hydrology and a professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering, and Michael Webber, co-director of ATI’s Clean Energy Incubator and deputy director of the university’s Energy Institute.
Our Water System: What a Waste
New York Times op-ed by ATI Clean Energy co-director Michael E. Webber
The Water Summit was organized to help raise awareness of the importance of safe, sufficient and reliable water resources and to highlight how water impacts all sectors of U.S. society, including agriculture, energy, human and environmental health, and national security.
The other UT Austin-led commitments are:
- UT Austin’s Center for Research in Water Resources is working with Esri and Kisters North America, Inc., in collaboration with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to develop a national flood model that enhances flood forecasting by integrating flood data. The goal is to launch a pilot version later this year.
- Guided by UT Austin Professor David Maidment, the National Science Foundation-funded Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. and the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science, will work with NOAA and other federal agencies to analyze the nation’s land-surface elevation — an important step in being able to add real-time flood-inundation mapping to the National Water Model.
- AccelerateH2O, in partnership with ATI Water and elequa, will launch three of seven planned regional hubs in Texas for demonstrating innovative approaches for water reuse, brackish desalination and aquifer recharge in rural communities, optimization of water systems, and smart irrigation. AccelerateH2O will work with these hubs to engage 500 youth and student “water innovators” to expedite commercialization of early-stage breakthrough water technologies and launch competitions to address water challenges.
- The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is announcing a partnership with Pecan Street, Inc. to gather data and conduct analysis to help 50 households in Houston and Austin understand the connection between their water and energy use. In addition, EDF will work with UT Austin, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and the University of California, Davis to help water providers in several major Texas cities better manage the energy use embedded in their systems.
- UT Austin Associate Professor and ATI Clean Energy co-director Michael Webber will partner with Itron to create and distribute an interactive curriculum that teaches key concepts about water and energy for K-12 students, colleges, industry and the general public. This curriculum will combine traditional content with multimedia components. Itron will make the app-based curriculum available free of charge, with a goal of reaching at least 10,000 students in 2016 and expanding globally in 2017.
UT Austin’s projects, along with the other commitments, will help the country plan for a more sustainable water future. According to the White House Office of the Press Secretary, in order to “reduce and mitigate the incidence and impact of water stresses on U.S. communities, it is essential to develop, implement and deploy the type of sustainable, integrated and long-term water-management strategies that will be highlighted during the Water Summit.”
For more information, see:
- Q&A on ATI Water with Bart Bohn
- Our Water System: What a Waste, NY Times op-ed by Michael E. Webber
- UT Austin news release
- White House Water Summit Report