Texas Startups to Improve Water Infrastructure

The recent contamination of drinking water in Corpus Christi is a reminder that the United States has a water infrastructure problem. Pipes are corroding, monitoring systems are out of date, and many of the biggest health issues are below the surface and very hard to detect until something goes wrong. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers , America's drinking water systems are nearing the end of their life. Fixing this issue has a large price tag - $1 trillion - for the country to maintain standards of public health using traditional methods of replacing and repairing pipes. 'There is no way we can really catch up,' says Bart Bohn , head of The University of Texas at Austin's new water technology incubator, part of the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) . 'So, how do we extend the life of the existing infrastructure and reduce the cost of new infrastructure' We think the fastest way to do that is with digital technology.' The startup specialists at ATI believe Central Texas, which is already a hotspot for startups, is poised to be the future leader in water innovation that can improve health and save taxpayers money. 'Nationally on average we lose about 25 percent of our water.