ET Water scores funds for smart water

Photo credit: JJ Harrison

Water startups don’t get much venture capital love.

Blame the artificially low cost of water, complex regulations or the slow pace of change of utilities, but investment in water technologies has been a drop in the bucket compared to the funds poured into other clean tech sectors. In 2010, water made up about two percent of total clean tech venture funding, according to the Cleantech Group.

Bay Area–based ET Water bucked that trend this week when it announced it had raised $2 million from undisclosed investors for its systems that manage water use for landscaping and irrigation.

“There are starting to be some incentives for people to save water,” says Pat McIntyre, the company’s chief executive. Climbing water prices, rebates and policy changes – like a California law that went into effect last year regulating water use in landscaping – are all driving a shift toward conservation, he adds.

ET Water says its technology can reduce landscaping-related water use by up to 50 percent. It does this through a hardware- and software-based system that automates watering based on weather and soil conditions and customer preferences. Users, who pay for ET Water’s systems on a subscription basis, can adjust watering schedules remotely through an online interface or through a smartphone application.

The funding is going towards rolling out two new products, McIntyre says. One is called the HermitCrab, a brick-sized device that plugs in to conventional irrigation controllers, making them compatible with the company’s software. While the company just shipped the first of those devices commercially, it’s also beta testing new software targeting the residential sector.

As for the market for the ET Water's technology, McIntyre says there are millions of irrigation controllers out there, ripe for the retrofitting.

In general, the market for smart water systems and other water information is expected to swell in the face of increased pressure on the world’s water supplies. According to a 2009 report from Lux research, water information technology could grow from a $530 million market to one worth more than $16 billion in the next decade.