Water Conservation

​In the average distribution system, as much as 30 percent of treated water is lost due to leaks, but the problems can be hard to pinpoint. Now, researchers have developed a technique that could have a big impact on the problem, using “noise logger” devices to spot underground leaks.

Many parts of the world are facing unprecedented shortages of water. A design team based in drought-ridden California has come up with a new device to help people consume less water. Droppler taps into the human mind to trigger behavioral change.

A new initiative by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has taken a surprisingly low-tech approach to water conservation, by covering the LA Reservoir in 96 million black "shade balls." It's an attempt to combat water loss through evaporation, and to heighten water quality.

If you're enjoying a serene natural area, you might not appreciate seeing a very techy-looking pollution-hunting robot putting along the surface. That's why scientists have developed an alternative – water-quality-monitoring robots that look like swans.

As water shortages haunt many parts of the world, saving water at home is a must. One way to do that is to recycle and reuse grey water. In Vancouver, Canada, a team of designers has created the prototype ReFlow G2RSystem, which recycles bath/shower water to flush the toilet.

Eva, a Bluetooth-connected shower head that just hit Indiegogo for crowdfunding, aims to cut shower water consumption in half by making sure water only pours down when you actually need it, paying for itself in just one year in the average household of four.

Phosphorus is a mineral that's widely used in fertilizer, which itself has an unfortunate tendency to leach out of farmers' fields and into our waterways. Now, researchers have devised a method of retrieving some of that phosphorus from the water.

There's no two ways about it: your common or garden sprinkler (so garden, in all probability) is a blithering half-wit.The Droplet wants to change all that. A sort of "smart" water cannon, it knows which parts of your garden to water, and when.

London architecture firm Studio Octopi has designed concepts for the creation of natural swimming pools in the River Thames.

Amphiro's a1 self-powered water and energy meter connects between the shower hose and a handheld showerhead and generates the electricity required to power it from the flow of water.

Orbital Systems is developing a new household shower that recycles any water that goes down the drain by purifying it and sending it back to the shower head. By the company's estimations, its system could save over 90 percent of the water and 80 percent of the energy consumed by an ordinary shower.

Here's a crowd-funding campaign that probably deserves to be doing better than it is. Driblet is a smart water meter that connects to a water pipe to track use. Best of all, once it's installed, you don't need to worry about it running out of energy.