California residents are generally rather familiar with the consequences that the drought has had on water regulations. Those living in drought-stricken areas are expected to monitor their water intake, and if they exceed their authorized limits in their area, they will be subject to substantial fines. Flume, created by Cal Poly alumni James Fazio, Eric Adler and Jeff Hufford, has created a product that will help regulate water use in California and across the country by addressing the most important factor in the equation: the homeowner (Beta box shown in photo). Attaching to the water meter itself, generating real-time data through an intuitive app, Flume’s device allows homeowners to monitor water usage at any time, check for leaks and observe trends over a set time period.
This device that Flume has created is not only able to detect and keep track of the amount of water used, but it can also help detect if there is a leak in your water system. Usually if there is a leak, you do not know until their water bill is too high or there is water all over your floor. Installing Flume’s magnetic water reader can also help decrease the homeowner’s water bill by making it easier for them to monitor the amount of water they are actually using via the Fume APP which provides live water usage data.
Flume started as a senior project at Cal Poly and the team was encouraged by Dr. Thomas Katona, Assistant Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Cal Poly, to enter Innovation Quest (“IQ”), a business plan competition. After successfully competing at IQ, Flume participated in the SLO HotHouse Accelerator program and became an SBDC Client. Through working with the Cal Poly CIE SBDC program, Flume has been able to overcome their obstacles and setbacks to create a reliable product.
The product is set to launch commercially in 2017. The company completed field-testing this week, and will be Beta-testing in 20 homes starting June 20th. Results, to date, have been incredibly encouraging….Stay tuned!
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