WaterGenie Grants Water Consumption Wishes to Australia & New Zealand
Media release: May 28, 2014
With 2.5 million Kiwis and Aussies collecting rainwater for their homes, Australia and New Zealand are a prime test
market for WaterGenie to help combat water scarcity.
Recent effects of climate change, especially in rural communities, have proven it difficult to maintain safe water
levels in home tanks. For some, this means spending hundreds of dollars to refill their tanks. For others, it means not
having any water at all.
Founded by Keoni Mahelona, the one-year-old company provides a smart water management system that will allow you to more
efficiently collect, harvest, use, and conserve water.
“We envision a world where everyone is self-sufficient in terms of water,” says Mahelona. “Currently, we don’t have the
tools at home to know how many days of water you have left in your tank, where your water is going or what you can do to
conserve it.”
The WaterGenie system is made up of a solar-powered smart meter that sits right on your water tank and an online
dashboard. Information collected by the device about water levels is then sent over the Internet to an online dashboard
where WaterGenie forecasts and predicts water usage as well as water yield (via climate forecasts). WaterGenie also
communicates ways in which households can change their behaviors so they can save water and money and alerts you if
anything is wrong.
Born out of Wellington New Zealand's Social Enterprise Startup Weekend in August 2013, WaterGenie secured more than
NZ$6000 in a crowdfunding campaign last year.
Over the past three months, WaterGenie has been working with digital startup accelerator programme Lightning Lab,
achieving new iterations of its hardware, refining its go to market strategy and growing the core team. Most notably,
Jon Brewer joined the WaterGenie team, bringing 20 years of expertise in telecommunications, network architecture and
radio design.
With the accelerator programme coming to a close this week, WaterGenie looks to meet others in the community who support
the WaterGenie kaupapa.
“We are passionate about delivering products and services that have a positive benefit to society and the environment,”
says Mahelona. “By connecting your water to the web, we’re connecting you to the water.”